And certainly subspecies as a concept is at best a fuzzy, short-term handle
for relationships we don't grasp. Distinct populations of species can and do
exist, but they're either members of the same species or they're not.
Having said all that, I don't know all the arguments about F. blairae as a
good species or not. I gotta track them down...
--Bruce Stallsmith
Huntsville, AL, US of A
>What's important to realize is that the species concept is an artificial
>concept, imposed by humans to try to inventory and order natural diversity.
>A species has no idea it's a species, and may often resist Linnean
>pigeonholing. In addition to rift lake cichlids, lampreys and sticklebacks
>of
>the Pacific Northwest challenge species concepts. As such, I've noticed
>that the term "super species" is increasingly being used to define groups
>of sympatric organisms that are easily distinguished by morphology
>and/or behavior, yet are more or less genetically identical. In addition,
>many taxonomists are throwing away the subspecies rank altogether; if
>each "subspecies" is a recognizable and quantifiable unit of biodiversity,
>then it's unique and should be treated as a full species. (This happened
>recently with the splitting of African elephants into 3 or 4 separate
>species.) The upshot of all this splitting and lumping is that the natural
>world is far more wonderfully diverse than our abilities to catalogue it,
>with
>delightful new surprises around every bend and riffle. It's not so
>important
>that we agree on any given classification or species concept, but that we
>agree that all units of biodiversity are worth protecting.
>
>Chris Scharpf
>Baltimore
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