Types of species

Dedicated to all Zoologists

1. Types of Species Various types of species are recognised , of which the followings are: Species: A group of living organisms consisting of similar individuas which are capable of reproduction. Semi-species The border line species b/w species and subspecies that have acquired some attributes but not all the attributes of the specie rang. Noor Zada, M.Sc Zoology, KUST, Kohat

2. Allopatric species The two or more related species that have disjunct geographical ranges are called allopatric species. Examples of such species are Indian lion ( Panthera leo persica ) and African lion ( Panthera leo leo ). Holotype A single type specimen upon which the description and name of the new species as best. Noor Zada, M.Sc Zoology, KUST, Kohat

3. Microspecies :   Those species in which variations are very less are called Joardan's species. They reproduce asexually so they have very less variations . Sibling species or Cryptic species : Members of species which are morphologically similar but reproductively isolated are known as Sibling species i.e. they cannot interbreed among themselves. Sibling species is one taxonomic species (because these members have similar morphology) but they are different biological species. [Because they cannot interbreed] Noor Zada, M.Sc Zoology, KUST, Kohat

4. Parapatric species : These are the species which have the geographical ranges with a very narrow region of overlap. Example of this type is the flightless Australian grass­hoppers, Moraba scurra and M. viatica . Noor Zada, M.Sc Zoology, KUST, Kohat

5. Sibling species : Two or more than two closely related species which are mor­phologically alike but behaviourally or reproductively isolated from each other. Examples are Drosophila persimilis and D. pseudoobscura . The mosquito Anopheles maculipennis complex consists of several subspecies , of which a few are vector of malaria and the rest are harmless. Noor Zada, M.Sc Zoology, KUST, Kohat

6. Monotypic species : When a genus in­cludes a single species but does not include any subspecies, e.g., Vampyroteuthis , a vam­pire squid which is a single monotypic genus and also contains a single species, V. infernalis (monotypic species). Blackwelder (1967) states that the species with a single subspecies, called monotypic species. Noor Zada, M.Sc Zoology, KUST, Kohat

7. Polytypic species : When a species con­tains two or more subspecies, it is called polytypic species. Examples are tiger, Panthera tigris which has several subspecies; such as —( i ) Indian tiger, Panthera tigris tigris , ( ii) the Chinese tiger, P. t. amoyensis , ( iii) the Siberian tiger, P. t. altaica , (iv) the Javan tiger, P. t. sondaica . Noor Zada, M.Sc Zoology, KUST, Kohat

8. Endemic species : The species which are found in a particular region, called endemic species. Usually the species of oceanic is­lands which are found in a limited geographic area are called endemic species . Noor Zada, M.Sc Zoology, KUST, Kohat

9. Transient species : Species among con­temporaneous organisms, fossil or recent, called transient species ( Imbrie , 1957). Blackwelder (1967) has defined that the species are the ones existing contemporane­ously, as a cross section of the lineages of evolutionary species. Noor Zada, M.Sc Zoology, KUST, Kohat

10. Microspecies : According to Grant (1981) Microspecies is the population of predominantly uniparental plant groups which are themselves uniform or slightly uniform and are differentiated morphologically from one another. These species are restricted to a limited geographical area . Noor Zada, M.Sc Zoology, KUST, Kohat

11. Subspecies : “A population of several biotypes forming a more or less distinct regional facies of a species”. It is thus a geographical race, ecotype, topodeme or genoecodeme . Noor Zada, M.Sc Zoology, KUST, Kohat

12. Exotic Species: A specie introduced into a new area from a different geographical area Monotype species: Those species having no sub-species. Noor Zada, M.Sc Zoology, KUST, Kohat