Sampling as many individuals as possible,scientists hope to complete work on all fish and birds in another 5 to 10 years.Onee either of these taxonomic groups is completed,Pfenninger says researchers will be able to decide how many cryptic species exist throughout the animal kingdom.
Examples of cryptic species include the African elephant. A 2001 study found the elephants were actually two genetically distinct,non-interbreeding species,the African bush elephant and the African elephant. The species are currently listed as vulnerable and threatened,respectively,by the World Conservation Union 4.
The reclassifications are more than an academic exercise.They define populations that have evolved independently of each other and whose genetic differences can have significant consequences.
In the early 1900s misidentification of mosquito species based on morphology confused attempts to control malaria in Europe.Ultimately,what was thought to be a single species was actually made up of six sibling species,only three of which transmitted the disease.The basic unit in biology is always the species,and you have to know what you are dealing with, Pfenninger says.Much previous research is now no longer used,he says,because it is not clear what species was being studied.
词汇:
cryptic/5kriptik/adj.隐蔽的;隐藏的 taxon/5tAksCn/ n. 分类单元
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