xia@cc.helsinki.fi (10/09/90)
Dear Alan, I do not share your belief that inter-group isolation played a role in primate speciation, for the following reason. The reason was not mine, but suggested to me by Dennis Rasmusen (Sorry for quoting your name without asking for your permission, Dennis). Dennis pointed out that inter-group isolation we observed today does not mean that such isolation existed many years ago, and it is the isolation many years ago that could explain the species diversity we observed today in social primates. The inter-group isolation among social primates may well be a recent phenomenon due to fragmentation of their habitats caused by human activities. Xuhua
JAHAYES@MIAMIU.BITNET (Josh Hayes) (10/11/90)
I am not a primatologist (actually, I'm a marine biologist; a bit of a stretch, no?), but I recall reading in a couple of animal behavior seminars from my grad student days that most primates that exist in structured social groups have sex-specific dispersal patterns, that is, that males disperse from such groups whereas females do not. The group "lineage", then, is not isolated from gene flow from other groups as males imm/em-igrate from/to groups. Speciation would be impossible in the face of continued gene flow. Somebody more knowledgeable than I please insert some information about patterns of dispersal among current social primates..... Josh Hayes, Zoology Department, Miami University, Oxford OH 45056 voice: 513-529-1679 fax: 513-529-6900 jahayes@miamiu.bitnet, or jahayes@miamiu.acs.muohio.edu I'm back, I'm back! I've been to ancient Greece -- I have proof, look at this grape!