Species concepts (and subspecies)

OLIVER JEFFREY CATLIN Jeffrey.Oliver at Colorado.EDU
Mon Nov 26 15:38:30 EST 2001


Is there really any objection to the existence to subspecies?  I don't
think anyone could deny that there are definite 'varieties' or 'races' of
species that are consistently more similar to one another than they are to
other members of the species.  Two (more) examples are Lycaeides idas anna
and Lycaena xanthoides dione.  Most everyone can recognize these two
things to subspecies right away.

However, the biological meaning of 'subspecies' seems to be in contention,
at the very least because formal subspecies definitions are few and far
between.  Not to mention the difficulty with species definitions!

It all comes back to the human need to name EVERYTHING.  I don't think
it's a negative quality, we just run into trouble when we try to
standardize things...

Jeff Oliver
jeffrey.oliver at colorado.edu



 
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