Estimated time range of diversification of humans and chimpanzees

Range 6.5e+6 - 10e+6 years
Organism Various
Reference Donoghue PC, Benton MJ. Rocks and clocks: calibrating the Tree of Life using fossils and molecules. Trends Ecol Evol. 2007 Aug22(8):424-31. Graph - link PubMed ID17573149
Primary Source Database - link
Method Researchers take Sahelanthropus tchadensis from Chad (6-7 Ma Brunet et al. 2002) as latest (youngest) distinct hominin and some late Miocene ape fossils, such as Gigantopithecus and Sivapithecus that may be stem-orangs as the earliest (oldest) groups. For full discussion and references see link
Comments Note - "Physical Biology of the Cell", Rob Phillips, Jane Kondev and Julie Theriot (2009). Page 76 gives value of ~6×10^6 years˜2×10^14seconds. Green et al, A draft sequence of the Neandertal genome 2010, PMID 20448178, assume that human-chimpanzee average DNA sequence divergence was 5.6 to 8.3 million years ago.
Entered by Uri M
ID 103766