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Evolution of hair and skin pigmentation in hominid lineages, with relative timing and pigmentation effects of each SVA insertion highlighted. Ancestral hominids and many extant great apes have light skin pigmentation, with UV protection conferred by denser body hair. Early human evolution involved increasing pigmentation and decreasing body hair. The ancient SVA F retrotransposon, which is shared by Neanderthals with modern humans on all continents, may have inserted during this period into the ASIP introndecreasing ASIP expression and increasing pigmentationand became fixed in Homo sapiens . Much more recently, a subsequent SVA F 1 insertion appeared and expanded in frequency (to several percent) within ancestral European populations, increasing ASIP expression and decreasing pigmentation.

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