[Taxacom] Paraphyletic species: Crocodylus niloticus

Stephen Thorpe stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz
Fri May 13 21:51:32 CDT 2011


At any rate, there are some conceptual problems here: firstly, surely species 
very commonly evolve from a widespread parent species, by way of a small number 
of individuals becoming isolated in a new place (either by vicariance or by 
dispersal)? Surely, that fact *alone* doesn't make the parent species 
"paraphyletic"? Surely, if the parent species diverges further *as a whole*, 
then it becomes monophyletic? But, it could still retain a certain amount of 
original geographic variation, so the daughter (sister?) species could still 
better match parent individuals from near the source of the vicariance/dispersal 
event which gave rise to it, thereby seeming "more closely related" to parent 
species from that area? Alternatively, the parent species could diverge 
geographically within its own range, and so individuals from some place could 
become "different" ... I am still trying to figure out all the possible 
scenarios and their consequences for the monophyly vs. paraphyly of the parent 
species ...

Stephen


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