DA wrote:
You're a biologist Rose ... stop sighing and weigh in with an opinion.
Yes Rose. Which of the approximately 30 definitions do you accept? For example here is a short (ha ha) discussion on the subject. Anyone who can get right through it deserves a medal. And the last section is called "Does the species category exist?":
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/species/Sorry Rose. For some reason your post didn't show up till after I'd put mine on. You say splitters separate species by whether they form fertile hybrids or not. Not true. Many splitters regard groups that can certainly form fertile hybrids as being separate species. I'd remind you of the ducks I mentioned some time back on another thread. Of course if the idea of a somehow separate species is used to protect some natural region I'm largely in favour. Still if NZ was discovered these days any form of development would be prohibited by law.
