doi 10.4436/jass.97001 JASs Invited Reviews Journal of Anthropological Sciences Vol. 97 (2019), pp. 45-68 Mosaic evolution in hominin phylogeny: meanings, implications, and explanations Andrea Parravicini1 & Telmo Pievani2 1) Department of Philosophy, State University of Milan and Department of Biology, University of Padua, Italy e-mail:
[email protected] 2) Department of Biology, University of Padua, Italy e-mail:
[email protected] Summary - In paleoanthropological literature, the use of the term “mosaic” (mosaic evolution, mosaic trait, mosaic species, and so on) is becoming more and more frequent. In order to promote a clarification of the use of the concept in literature, we propose here a classification in three different meanings of the notion of mosaic in human evolution: 1) morphological (inter-specific and intra-specific) instability in a certain phase of a branched phylogeny; 2) multiple trajectories and versions of the same adaptive trait in a branched phylogeny; 3) the trait itself as a complex mosaic of sub-traits with different phylogenetic stories (as is the case in language). We argue that the relevance of such mosaic patterns needs a macro-evolutionary interpretation, which takes into consideration the interaction between general selective pressures (promoting different versions of the same adaptation) and a cladogenetic approach in which speciation played a crucial role, due to ecological instability, habitat fragmentation, and geographical dispersals in human evolution. Keywords - Mosaic evolution, Macro-evolutionary approach, Bipedalism, Encephalization, Symbolic behavior, Stone-tools, Human language evolution. The term “mosaic” in human old linear anagenetic model of human phylog- evolution eny with the cladogenetic Darwinian model of a knotty and irregularly branched tree.