Mitochondrial Eve is the most recent ancestor who had an unbroken line of daughters to the present day. She also had to have had two daughters. If she had one that woman would be Mitochondrial Eve.
Eve's daughters passed on the mitochondrial line that are present today in every human on Earth. So she was the many times great grandmother of every human on Earth.
She was not a new species. She might not have had any advantageous characteristics. There is likely nothing special about her mitochondria. There were many other human beings living alongside her and long, long before her. What was significant was that her descendants included an unbroken line of daughters.
FeloranMe t1_j2dyq46 wrote
Reply to comment by NeighborhoodNorth249 in Why is Mitochondrial Eve dated to 150-170,000 years go? by jayhovian
Mitochondrial Eve is the most recent ancestor who had an unbroken line of daughters to the present day. She also had to have had two daughters. If she had one that woman would be Mitochondrial Eve.
Eve's daughters passed on the mitochondrial line that are present today in every human on Earth. So she was the many times great grandmother of every human on Earth.
She was not a new species. She might not have had any advantageous characteristics. There is likely nothing special about her mitochondria. There were many other human beings living alongside her and long, long before her. What was significant was that her descendants included an unbroken line of daughters.