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.

中文翻译：

---

人参系统发育中的镶嵌进化：意义，含义和解释。

在古人类学文献中，“马赛克”一词（马赛克的演化，镶嵌特征，镶嵌种类等）的使用越来越频繁。为了促进对该概念在文献中的使用的澄清，我们在此提出人类进化中镶嵌概念的三种不同含义的分类：1）在特定阶段的形态（种间和种内）不稳定性分枝的系统发育；2）分支系统发育中的多个轨迹和相同适应性状的版本；3）特性本身是具有不同系统发育故事的子特性的复杂镶嵌图（如语言中的情况）。我们认为，此类马赛克图案的相关性需要宏观进化的解释，