# Haplogroup K2b1 (Y-DNA)

Haplogroup K2b1, known sometimes as haplogroup MS, is a human Y-DNA haplogroup, defined by SNPs P397 and P399. It has a complex, diverse and not-yet fully understood internal structure; its downstream descendants include the major haplogroups Haplogroup M (P256) and Haplogroup S (M230).
It is not clear at present whether the basal paragroup K2b1* is carried by any living males. Individuals carrying subclades of K2b1 are found primarily among Papuan peoples, Micronesian peoples, indigenous Australians, and Polynesians.

## Structure

K2b1 is a direct descendant of K2b – known previously as Haplogroup MPS.
Its only primary branches are the major haplogroups S (B254), also known as K2b1a (and previously known as Haplogroup S1 or K2b1a4) and M (P256), also known as K2b1b (previously K2b1d).

## Distribution

K2b1 is strongly associated with the indigenous peoples of Melanesia (especially the island of New Guinea) and Micronesia, and to a lesser extent Polynesia, where it is generally found only among 5–10% of males. It is found in 83% of males in Papua New Guinea.
Studies of indigenous Australian Y-DNA published in 2014 and 2015, suggest that, before contact with Europeans, about 29% of Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander males belonged to downstream subclades of K2b1. That is, up to 27% indigenous Australian males carry haplogroup S1a1a1 (S-P308; previously known as K2b1a1 or K-P308), and one study found that approximately 2.0% – i.e. 0.9% (11 individuals) of the sample in a study in which 45% of the total was deemed to be non-indigenous – belonged to haplogroup M1 (M-M4; also known as M-M186 and known previously as haplogroup K2b1d1). All of these males carrying M1 were Torres Strait Islanders. (The other Y-DNA haplogroups found were: basal K2* [K-M526], C1b2b [M347; previously Haplogroup C4], and basal C* [M130].)
| Population | K2b1 (including Haplogroups M & S) as a % |
| Papua New Guinea | 82.76% |
| New Zealand | 0% |
| Fiji | 60.75% |
| Solomon Islands | 30% |
| French Polynesia | 8.00% |
| Vanuatu | 18.5% |
| Guam | 33.3% (small sample size) |
| Samoa | 8.04% |
| Kiribati | 0% (small sample size) |
| Tonga | 23% M haplogroup in one study and 26% s haplogroup in a separate study and told in that study to be up to 43% haplogroup m and haplogroup s there |
| Micronesia FDR | 66.67% |
| Marshall Islands | 63.64% |
| Palau | 61.5% (small sample size) |
| Cook Islands | 3.9% |
| Wallis and Futuna | 26% |
| Tuvalu | 36% |
| Nauru | 28.6% (small sample size) |
| Niue | 0% (small sample size) |
| Tokelau | 50% (small sample size) |
| Hawaii | 20% (small sample size from FTDNA) |
| Aboriginal Australians | 20% (657 samples; 56% assumed to be non-indigenous) |
| Timor | 6% |
| Aeta | 0% |
| Chinese | 0% |
| Filipinos | 0% |
| Malaysia | 2.40% ( small sample size ) |
| Flores | 0% ( Samples includes diverse ethnicities ) |
| Sulawesi | 11.3% ( Samples includes diverse ethnicities ) |
| Eastern Indonesia (Wallacea) | 25.9% ( Samples includes diverse ethnicities ) |
| Java | 0% |
| Bali | 0.9% |
| Sumatra | 0% |
| Borneo (Indonesia) | 5.80% ( samples includes diverse ethnic minorities ) |
| West Papua | 52.6% |
| Papua Province | 82.6% |
| Sumba | 25.2% |
| Chuukkese people (Micronesia) | 76.5% |
| Pohnpeian people (Micronesia) | 70% (small sample size) |