species complexes

[Piabinha@aol.com]

> > I think it's one of those many species where you have a long geographic 
> range, with
>  > the fish at the two ends being classified as different species, but with 
> the dividing
>  > line hard to find in the middle. It's something I find very difficult 
with 
> killie
>  > species definitions. I haven't heard as much about this question with 
> Apistos as I
>  > have with West African fish.Gary,

i believe the term is species complex, which describes what you just did 
above.

>  You may be right. At the ACA convention I mentioned the same problem with 
> species of
>  apistos. Right now there are about 200 physically different forms 
(taxonomic 
> species),
>  but I'm not sure that they are all "biological species". In actuality 
there 
> may only be
>  30 - 40 different species. I have discussed this problem with other apisto 
> people and
>  several of us have come to the opinion that, for now, it is best to split 
> these fish up
>  as narrowly as possible, list them as possible species/populations, and 
not 
> interbreed
>  them. If future evidence shows that some of the many populations are the 
> same species, it
>  is simple to lump them back together. On the other hand, what happens if 
we 
> lump several
>  populations together as a species, breed them together, and then discover 
> that we were
>  actually dealing with multiple sibling species?
>  
not to mention that if you have a nice color form of one species, why dilute 
it by crossing with another form of the same species?

tsuh yang chen, nyc, USA


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