What is a superspecies

Ron Gatrelle gatrelle at tils-ttr.org
Wed Feb 7 00:26:52 EST 2001


My (Ron's ) comments at the end.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dale Hoyt" <dlhoyt at negia.net>
To: "Bob Parcelles,Jr." <rjparcelles at yahoo.com>; "Ron Gatrelle"
<gatrelle at tils-ttr.org>; "Leps-l" <Leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2001 9:55 PM
Subject: Re: What is a superspecies


> I can't speak from any knowledge of the new ICZN code, except what Ron
> Gatrelle has excerpted. But from my earlier knowledge of systematics I'd
> say that the difference between subgenera and superspecies is that the
> subgenus is a formal category grouping one or more species within a
genus.
> If subgenera are recognized there ought to be two or more subgenera
within
> a genus. (Just as with subspecies -- you can't have only one.)
> The superspecies concept was not originally meant to be part of the
formal
> taxonomic nomenclature. A superspecies is a group of closely related
> allopatric (or nearly allopatric -- parapatric) populations that appear
to
> be reproductively isolated, or nearly so, from one another. Thus some
> species-level populations in a genus might qualify as a "superspecies"
> while others in the same genus would not. (Hypothetical example: in the
> genus Schmoo species a, b and c replace each other geographically but
show
> no evidence of interbreeding where their ranges abut one another. They
> collectively constitute the "a" superspecies. The other species of Schmoo
> (d, e and f) are widespread and broadly sympatric with each other.
Because
> of their sympatry they can not be regarded as a superspecies (in the
> original, informal, sense of that term).
>
> Without seeing the latest revision of the code I can't determine if the
> ICZN meant to use the superspecies category in this way. (It might have
> meant to create another level of classification between the Genus and the
> Species:
> Genus: Subgenus: superspecies: species. Maybe Ron can tell us.
> At 05:19 PM 2/6/01 -0800, Bob Parcelles,Jr. wrote:
--  snip --
> Dale Hoyt
>


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