Re: species complexes

[Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@bewellnet.com>]

Other terms used are "ring species" or "superspecies". This is sometimes called a
species-group, too. Haphazard crossing of different color forms usually lessens
the color quality, but careful crossing & inbreeding have produced some very
colorful aquarium strains. Whether or not these are true species or hybrids of
sibling species can be debated forever.

Mike Wise

Piabinha@aol.com wrote:

> > > 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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