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Invisibleshroomydan
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21 species that were 1
    #7106936 - 06/29/07 11:41 AM (16 years, 7 months ago)

This article is about bugs, but it's lessons apply to mushrooms as well. I especially like the part about needing to examine thousands of specimens to draw lines between species. All to frequently mycologists examine a few specimens of mushrooms from a single collection and declare them to be a new species, when they are likely just variations on a known species.


Biodiversity: 21 Species that were 1



by Dr. Gerald Noonan

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is reprinted without illustrations from LORE magazine, a benefit of museum membership. © 1996 Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc.

Museums have staff who are experts on the biodiversity of particular groups of species. I am an authority on carabid beetles, a group of approximately 30,000 species of mostly ground dwelling insects. I curate these and most other insects except butterflies and moths. The collection of insects under my care is a form of a reference library. When a curator has a specimen to identify, he compares it with descriptions in research publications and with identified specimens in the collection.
Scientists use a system of classification which uniquely designates each species by two words, the genus and the species. A species is a group of animals that can interbreed with one another, but which rarely or never interbreed with members of any other species. A genus is a group of related species that evolved from a common ancestor.
An example of a species is Canis familiaris, the domestic dog. "Canis" is the genus, and "familiaris" is the species epithet. The same name can be used for only one animal genus and, within a genus, for only one species. Why not use a single word to name a species? There are so many different species that we need a two word combination.
More than a million species of organisms have been described, and some scientists estimate that 20 to 30 million species remain undescribed. This makes it impossible for scientists to test directly whether organisms interbreed or not. Biologists, therefore, use indirect evidence to group organisms into species.
Members of a given species usually share similarities in physical or physiological characters. If some members of a species differ in physical and physiological characters, then interbreeding will result in hybrids. For example, domestic dogs vary greatly in appearance from large Great Danes to Toy Poodles, but there are hybrids intermediate between these and other varieties. The hybrids demonstrate that domestic dogs are a single species.
A study I did recently shows the importance of examining numerous specimens from different places to correctly classify animals into species. My interest began when I found it difficult to identify to species Wisconsin specimens of the carabid beetle genus Harpalus. Examination of beetles from other states disclosed a similar difficulty; other scientists also had the same experience. I decided that a study of the group was necessary to provide a means for identifying the various species. Such a study also would be useful to test hypothesis about the evolution of insects and to determine their geographical distribution patterns in North America.
A $115,000 grant from the National Science Foundation enabled me to hire a research assistant and borrow specimens from other museums. The grant also provided funds for extensive field work and specimen collecting in the United States. A total of 2,546 were obtained during field work that involved more than 23,000 miles of driving. Over a three year period I studied a total of 35,000 adults of this group.
Scientists had believed that one species of Harpalus beetle in Wisconsin was Harpalus pleuriticus and that another was Harpalus fallax. Wisconsin specimens of the two species differed in several features. Harpalus fallax had a relatively stout body, and a portion of the hind wing covers was black to dark reddish black. In contrast, Harpalus pleuriticus had a narrower body, and the same portion of the hind wing covers was yellow to reddish yellow. But examination of adults from outside Wisconsin showed the presence of numerous hybrids intermediate in characters between the two species. For example, some adults had stout bodies (characteristic of Harpalus fallax) but had portions of the hind wing covers which were reddish yellow in color (characteristic of Harpalus pleuriticus). The hybrids showed that Harpalus fallax and Harpalus pleuriticus were varieties of a single species.
Further research revealed that matters were even more complex. The Pacific Northwest (southern British Columbia, Washington and Oregon) had members of Harpalus somnulentus. My research showed, however, that the external body characters used by other scholars to separate this species from Harpalus pleuriticus varied between specimens, suggesting the two species were actually the same. Moreover, when I looked at a membranous sac found inside the male genitalia, I found that males of Harpalus somnulentus had a distinctive large basal U-shaped field of spines, quite different from the two small basal fields of spines found in males of Harpalus pleuriticus. My assistants dissected many additional genitalia ! a total of 2,084 such dissections completed for all forms of the genus. These showed that in western North America there were many males with fields of spines intermediate between the two. These hybrids again showed that Harpalus pleuriticus and Harpalus somnulentus were varieties of a single species.
A total of five different varieties of beetles were finally determined to be a single species. Previous workers had proposed 21 different species names for the members of these five varieties, but they had examined only a few adults from a small region or a single site and had either not seen hybrids or had thought that they were distinct species.
When scientists find that several former species are really only one, they apply the oldest available name to the single species. The oldest such name among the group of 21 former species was that of Harpalus somnulentus, a name proposed in 1829. This name was therefore given to the single species that now includes the 21 former ones. All the Wisconsin Harpalus pleuriticus and Harpalus fallax that had aroused my interest became Harpalus somnulentus.
Scientists commonly study tens of thousands of specimens from large areas. Such large scale studies are the only method of obtaining correct conclusions about their identity. Such studies are also the only way to correctly determine their evolutionary history and to record their correct geographical distributions. Because of their considerable cost, such widespread studies are usually funded by grants from agencies such as the National Science Foundation. Grant funded research is also a major means for adding specimens to museum collections. For example, the various grant funded studies that I've done have added more than 39,000 specimens to our museum collections.
Once such studies are complete for a group, the scientist publishes a paper which other workers can use in correctly identifying members of the group. My work on Harpalus resulted a 310 page book about the identification of the members of the genus. Also, data obtained from the study has enabled me to propose and test hypothesis about the evolution and dispersal of insects in general throughout North America ! but that's another tale.


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InvisiblegeorgeM
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Registered: 07/05/05
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Re: 21 species that were 1 [Re: shroomydan]
    #7106978 - 06/29/07 12:04 PM (16 years, 7 months ago)

great article shroomydan!!!! splitters beware! :thumbup::thumbup:


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