From Nigel Yeatman, London, UK
When I did A-level biology, a species was a group of individuals whose members could interbreed to form fertile offspring. Since then it seems there has been meaning creep, especially in the hominins (8 November, p 40).
There is good evidence for hybridisation between all the “species” derived from Homo erectus. We are all H. erectus, with subspecies H. e. erectus, H. e. neanderthalis, H. e. denisovensis, and others, including H. e. sapiens (so called). This would emphasise that we could all have remote ancestors and genes from more than one, or all, of these groups. Unchain the subspecies taxon!
