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Part of the book series: Advances in Primatology ((AIPR))

Abstract

The problem of deciding when phenotypic variation exceeds that which can be tolerated within a single species is a familiar one to both paleontologists in general (Mayr et al., 1953; Sylvester-Bradley, 1956; Simpson, 1961) and to pal-eoanthropologists in particular (e.g., Weidenreich, 1946; Campbell, 1962; Zwell and Pilbeam, 1972; Wolpoff, 1978; Pilbeam, 1978). Some authors have regarded these taxonomic difficulties as intrinsic to the practice of equating fossil with neontological species and have proposed that any resolution lies in the direction of redefining the fossil species concept. For example, Cain (1954) and George (1956) used the terms paleospeaes and chronospeaes, respectively, to refer to the whole (George, 1956), or part (Pilbeam, 1972), of an evolutionary lineage. These devices thus incorporate the element of time within the definition of a paleon-tological species.

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Wood, B. (1993). Early Homo . In: Kimbel, W.H., Martin, L.B. (eds) Species, Species Concepts and Primate Evolution. Advances in Primatology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3745-2_19

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