Humans and orangutans

[John Grehan]

Just an update on the orangutan-human front. I have heard from one
molecular geneticist informing me that it has been scientifically proven
that chimpanzees are human's closest living relatives and that it is highly
irresponsible for me to convey to the public information which is known to
be incorrect and that I will look like a laughing-stock among my peers.

Be that as it may, this geneticist raises the same point I have mentioned
earlier. If only molecular genetics scientifically proves phylogeny then
all morphological contributions to phylogeny are rendered science fiction.
All morphological studies, including those of fossil taxa, are unreliable
to the point that they should no longer be funded. This seems to be the
inevitable conclusion one would reach if molecular phylogeny were the only
reliable way to reconstruct phylogeny and have automatic precedence over
morphology. This is the view taken by most primate systematists working
with human origins - even by those who study morphology, and including
those who study fossil hominid taxa!

Are there any morphological systematists on this list who view molecular
genetics as the last word on reconstructing phylogeny? (i.e. view their own
morphological work as phylogenetically uninformative).

John Grehan

Dr. John Grehan
Director of Science and Collections
Buffalo Museum of Science
1020 Humboldt Parkway
Buffalo, New York 14211-1293
Voice 716-896-5200 x372
Fax 716-897-6723
jgrehan at sciencebuff.org
http://www.sciencebuff.org/biogeography/Panbiogeography/Panbiogeography-Gate.htm
http://www.sciencebuff.org/HepialidaeGate.htm