[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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