Revisiting an Old Chestnut: Retroviruses and Common Descent

One common argument for common descent which one hears very frequently in the evolutionary literature concerns the placement of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) in orthologous loci in primate genomes. By far the most clear and succinct presentation of the strongest version of this argument which I have encountered can be found in this popular-level internet article. The article sets out three layers of evidence, based on ERV elements, which, it proposes, serve to confirm the evolutionary model ...