[Taxacom] Type of Homo sapiens (was: Are species real? Doesn't matter.)

[John Grehan]

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
[mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Steve Manning
(I am aware of the biological species concept and, as I indicated some
years ago in a similar discussion, if it were proposed that we amend the
codes to require combining and synonymizing any species discovered to
not be reproductively isolated from any other already described species,
I would be most supportive of such a proposal.  Of course that would
require setting standards for how much and which types of reproductive
isolation qualify, and how much evidence is required.  But until any
such code modifications are enacted, I will go with the above.)

The above shows the arbitrary nature of species definitions and their
essentialist nature. Some years ago hybrid offspring between black
robins and Chatham island tits were executed in order to preserve the
presumed species purity of the presumed species essence.

An alternative to species definitions is species diagnosis - one may
diagnose the parameters (biological, spatial, temporal) by which a
species is recognized in a particular place and time. Something along
these lines is used for diseases.

John Grehan