>Date:    Wed, 4 Nov 1998 13:51:43 PST
>From:    "Patti Z. Lounsbury" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Internet Message
>
>Hi Tom, Hi Mark.
>
>I am not a respected malacologist..heck, I'm not even a disrespected
>one..but I share Tom's idea. Why wouldn't subspecies appear in the same
>area as parent species..or at the very least in overlapping areas?
 
My 2 cents.  There has been much discussion in the recent past regarding
subspecies, etc.  I think we need to get a few terms straight before we can
proceed in discussing this topic.  First, there is no "parent" species in a
subspecies.  There is a nominate form (the one with the trinomial that has
the same two last names) and the other named subspecies.  We should also be
careful about the terms "hybrid" and "intergrade".  A "hybrid" is the
resultant offspring of two different species or genera, usually with
sterile progeny.  An intergrade is the area of overlap between two
subspecies.  There are no hybrids within a species and there are no
intergrades between species.
 
To quote Ernst Mayr "The breeding ranges of two species may overlap
geographically but not those of two subspecies of the same species.  If two
discrete breeding populations coexist at the same locality, they are full
species.  Where two subspecies meet, intermediate populations may occur
which combine characters of both subspecies.  It would be misleading in
such a case to say that the two subspecies overlap in this area, since the
species is represented in this area by a single population, no matter how
variable."
 
>Subspecies apparently share some of the same characteristics as the
>parent species..
 
Yes and no.  According to Mayr "subspecies are named only if they differ
"taxonomically", that is, by sufficient diagnostic morphological
characters."
 
>Patti "I am so confused" Lounsbury
>New Mexico
 
I for one have real trouble with the whole subspecies idea, but I must
confess that it does have some practical application in conservation and
other arenas. (And it seems to work well in the case of many herps).
Kevin
 
Kevin S. Cummings
Illinois Natural History Survey
607 E. Peabody Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
[log in to unmask]
http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/cbd/collections/mollusk.html