Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Species concepts and phylogenetics

  • Published:
Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Concepts of species proposed within the phylogenetic paradigm arecritically reviewed. Most so called ‘phylogenetic species concepts’ relyheavily on factors immaterial to phylogenetic hypotheses. Thus, theyhave limited empirical content and offer weak bases on which to makedecisions about real problems related to species. Any workable notion ofspecies relies on an explicit character analysis, rather than onabstract properties of lineages, narrative predications and speculationson tokogenetic relationships. Species only exist conjecturally, as thesmallest meaningful units for phylogenetic analysis, as based oncharacter evidence. Such an idea considers species to be conjecturesbased on similarity, that are subsequently subject to testing by theresults of analysis. Species, thus, are units of phylogenetic analysisin the same way as hypotheses of homology are units of comparablesimilarities, i.e. conjectures to be tested by congruence. Althoughmonophyly need not be demonstrated for species-level taxa, hypotheses ofrelationships are the only basis to refute species limits and guidenecessary rearrangements. The factor that leads to recognition ofspecies is similarity in observed traits. The concept of life cycle isintroduced as an important element in the discussion of species, as anefficient way to convey subsidiary notions of sexual dimorphism,polymorphism, polytypy and clusters of diagnosable semaphoronts. Thenotion of exemplars is used to expand the concept ofspecies-as-individual-organisms into a more generally usable concept.Species are therefore proposed for a diagnosable sample of(observed or inferred) life cycles represented by exemplars all of whichare hypothesized to attach to the same node in a cladogram, and whichare not structured into other similarly diagnosable clusters. Thisdefinition is character-based, potentially testable by reference to abranching diagram, and dispenses with reference to ancestor-descendantrelationships or regression into population concepts. It provides aworkable basis on which to proceed with phylogenetic analysis and abasis for that analysis to refute or refine species limits. A protocolis offered for testing hypotheses of species boundaries in cladograms.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agassiz, L. (1866) Methods of Study in Natural History. Ticknor & Fields, Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amundson, R. (1998) Typology reconsidered: Two doctrines on the history of evolutionary biology. Biol.Phil. 13, 153–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Archibald, J.D. (1994) Metataxon concepts and assessing possible ancestry using phylogenetic systematics. Syst.Biol. 43, 27–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Avise, J. (1994) Molecular Markers, Natural History and Evolution. Chapman & Hall, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Avise, J., Arnold, J., Ball, J., Bermingham, E., Lamb, T., Neigel, J., Reeb, C. and Saunders N. (1987) Intraspecific phylogeography: The mitochondrial bridge between population genetics and systematics. Ann.Rev.Ecol.Syst. 18, 489–522.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ax, P. (1987) The Phylogenetic System.The Systematization of Living Organisms on the Basis of their Phylogenesis. JohnWiley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baum, D. (1992) Phylogenetic species concepts. Trends Ecol.Evol. 7, 1–2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baum, D. and Donoghue, M.J. (1995) Choosing among alternative “phylogenetic” species concepts. Syst.Bot. 20, 560–573.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baum, D. and Shaw, K.L. (1995) Genealogical perspectives on the species problem. In: Koch, P.H. and Stephenson, G.D. eds. Experimental and Molecular Approaches to Plant Biosystematics. Missouri Botanical Garden, St Louis, pp. 289–303.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowen, B.W. and Grant, W.S. (1997) Phylogeography of the sardines (Sardinops spp.): Assessing biogeographic models and population histories in temperate upwelling zones. Evolution 51, 1601–1610.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brady, R. (1982) Theoretical issues and “pattern cladistics”. Syst. Zool. 31, 286–291.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brady, R. (1982) Parsimony, hierarchy and biological implications. In: Platnick, N.I. and Funk, V. eds. Advances in Cladistics: Proceedings of the Second Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society. Columbia Univ. Press, New York, pp. 49–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brady, R. (1985) On the independence of systematics. Cladistics 1, 113–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bremer, K. and Wanntorp, H.-E. (1979) Geographic populations or biological species in phylogeny reconstruction? Syst.Zool.28, 220–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brower, A.V.Z. (2000) Evolution is not an assumption of cladistics. Cladistics (in press).

  • Brower, A.V.Z. and Schawaroch, V. (1996) Three steps of homology assessment. Cladistics 12, 265–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brundin, L. (1972) Evolution, causal biology, and classification. Zool.Scr. 1, 107–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buffon, G.L.L. de (1749) Histoire Naturelle, Génerale et Particulière, avec la Déscription du Cabinet du Roi, 44 vols. Imprimérie Royale, puis Plassan, Paris.

  • Bunge, M. (1981) Biopopulations, not biospecies, are individuals and evolve.Behav.Brain Sci. 4, 284–285.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buss, L. (1987). The Evolution of Individuality. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton. xv + 203 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carson, L.H. (1957) The Species as a field for gene recombination. In Mayr, E. ed. The Species Problem. Am. Soc. Adv. Science, Publ. 50, Washington, DC, pp. 23–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohan, F.M. (1994) Genetic exchange and evolutionary divergence in prokaryotes. Trends Ecol.Evol. 9, 175–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cracraft, J. (1983) Species concepts and speciation analysis. Current Ornithology 1, 159–187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cracraft, J. (1987) Species concepts and the ontology of evolution. Biol.Phil. 2, 329–346.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danser, B.H. (1950) A theory of systematics. Bibliogr.Biotheor. 4, 117–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, C. (1859) The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. John Murray, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, J.I. (1995) Species concepts and phylogenetic analysis – introduction. Syst.Bot. 20, 555–559.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, J.I. (1997) Evolution, evidence, and the role of species concepts in Phylogenetics. Syst.Bot. 22, 373–403.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, J.I. and Nixon, K.C. (1992) Populations, genetic variation, and the delimitation of phylogenetic species. Syst.Biol. 41, 421–435.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Queiroz, K. and Donoghue, M.J. (1988) Phylogenetic systematics and the species problem. Cladistics 4, 317–338.

    Google Scholar 

  • De. Queiroz, K. and Donoghue, M.J. (1990) Phylogenetic systematics or Nelson's version of cladistics? Cladistics 6, 61–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donoghue, M.J. (1985) A critique of the biological species concept and recommendations of a phylogenetic alternative. The Bryologist 88, 172–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doyle, J.J. (1992) Gene trees and species trees: Molecular systematics as a one-character taxonomy. Syst.Bot. 17, 144–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eldredge, N. and Cracraft, J. (1980) Phylogenetic Patterns and the Evolutionary Process. Columbia Univ. Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ereshefsky, M. (1992) Eliminative pluralism. Phil.Sci. 59, 671–690.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farris, J.S. (1983) The logical basis of phylogenetic analysis. In: Platnick, N.I. and Funk, V.A. eds. Advances in Cladistics, Vol. 2. Columbia Univ. Press, New York, pp. 7–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farris, J.S. (1985) The pattern of cladistics. Cladistics 1, 190–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flavell, A.J. (1992) Tyl-copia group retrotransposons and the evolution of retroelements in the eukaryotes. Genetica 86, 203–214.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frost, D.R. and Kluge, A.G. (1994) A consideration of epistemology in systematic biology, with special reference to species. Cladistics 10, 259–294.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, I. (1859) Histoire Naturelle Générale des Règnes Organiques, Principalement Etudiée Chez l'Homme et les Animaux, Vol. 2. Masson, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghiselin, M.T. (1987)Hierarchies and their components. Paleobiology 13, 108–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gleason, J.M., Griffith, E.C. and Powell, J.R. (1998) A molecular phylogeny of the Drosophila willistoni group: Conflicts between species concepts? Evolution 52, 1093–1103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grande, L. and Bemis, W.E. (1998) A comprehensive phylogenetic study of amiid fishes (Amiidae) based on comparative skeletal anatomy. An empirical search for interconnected patterns of natural history. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 4. Supplement to J.Vert.Paleont. 18(1). x + 690 pp.

  • Hennig, W. (1950) Grundzüge einer Theorie der phylogenetischen Systematik. Deutscher Zentralverlag, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hennig. W. (1966) Phylogenetic Systematics. Univ. Illinois Press, Urbana. xiv + 263 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull, D.L. (1980) Individuality and selection. Ann.Rev.Ecol.Syst. 11, 311–332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitcher, P. (1984) Species. Phil.Sci. 51, 308–333.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kluge, A.G. (1990) Species as historical individuals. Biol.Phil. 5, 417–431.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Latorre, A.M. (1991) Another defence of pattern cladistics! Cladistics 7, 201–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckow, M. (1995) Species concepts: Assumptions, methods, and applications. Syst.Bot. 20, 589–605.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDade, L.A. (1995) Species concepts and problems in practice: Insight from botanical monographs. Syst.Bot. 20, 606–622.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayr, E. (1942) Systematics and the Origin of Species. Columbia Univ. Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayr, E. (1963) animal Species and Evolution. Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayr, E. (1969) Principles of Systematic Zoology. McGraw-Hill, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishler, B.D. (1985) The morphological, developmental, and phylogenetic basis of species concepts is bryophytes. Bryologist 88, 207–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishler, B.D. and Brandon, R.N. (1987) Individuality, pluralism, and the phylogenetic species concept. Biol.Phil. 2, 397–414.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishler, B.D. and Donoghue, M.J. (1982) Species concepts: A case for pluralism. Syst.Zool. 31, 491–503.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, G.J. (1985a) Class and individual: A reply to M. Ghiselin. Cladistics 1, 386–389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, G.J. (1985b) Outgroups and ontogeny. Cladistics 1, 29–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, G.J. (1987) Preface. In: Bird, W.R. The Origin of Species Revisited.The Theories of Evolution and of abrupt Appearance, Vol. 1: Science. Philosophical Library, New York, pp. xi–xiii.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, G.J. (1989a) Cladistics and evolutionary models. Cladistics 5, 275–289.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, G.J. (1989b) Species and taxa: Systematics and evolution. In: Otte, D. and Endler, J. eds. Speciation and its Consequences. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, pp. 60–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, G.J. and Platnick, N.I. (1981) Systematics and Biogeography: Cladistics and Vicariance. Columbia Univ. Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nixon, K.C. and Carpenter, J.M. (1993) On outgroups. Cladistics 9, 413–426.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nixon, K.C. and Davis, J. (1991) Polymorphic taxa, missing values and cladistic analysis. Cladistics 7, 233–241.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nixon, K.C. and Wheeler, Q.D. (1990) an amplification of the phylogenetic species concept. Cladistics 6, 211–223.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nixon, K.C. and Wheeler, Q.D. (1992) Extinction and the origin of species. In: Novacek, M.J. and Wheeler, Q.D. eds. Extinction and Phylogeny. Columbia Univ. Press, New York, pp. 119–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Novacek, M.J. and Wheeler, Q.D. (1992) Extinct Taxa: accounting for 99.999... % of the earth's biota. In: Novacek, M.J. and Wheeler, Q.D. eds. Extinction and Phylogeny. Columbia Univ. Press, New York, pp. 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Hara, R.J. (1993) Systematic generalization, historical fate, and the species problem. Syst.Biol. 42, 231–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ospovat, D. (1978) Perfect adaptation and teleological explanation. Stud.History Biol. 2, 33–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ospovat, D. (1981) The Development of Darwin's Theory Natural History, Natural Theology, and Natural Selection 1838–1859. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panchen, A.L. (1992) Classification, Evolution and the Nature of Biology. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge. xi + 403 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paterson, H.E.H. (1985) The recognition concept of species. In: Vrba, E.S. ed. Species and Speciation (Transvaal Museum Monograph 4). Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, pp. 21–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Pinna, M.C.C. (1991) Concepts and tests of homology in the cladistic paradigm. Cladistics 7, 367–394.

    Google Scholar 

  • Platnick, N.I. (1977) Monophyly and the origin of higher taxa: A reply to E.O.Wiley. Syst.Zool. 26, 355–357.

    Google Scholar 

  • Platnick, N.I. (1979) Philosophy and the transformation of cladistics. Syst.Zool. 27, 537–546.

    Google Scholar 

  • Platnick, N.I. (1986) On justifying cladistics. Cladistics 2, 83–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ray, J. (1686) Historia Plantarum: Species Hactenus Editas Aliasque Insuper Multas Noviter Inventas & Descriptas Complectens, Tomus Primus. Henry Faithorne, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Regan, C.T. (1926) Organic evolution. Rep.British Ass.Adv.Sci. 1925, 75–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ridley, M. (1989) The cladistic solution to the species problem. Biol.Phil. 4, 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rieppel, O. (1986) Species are individuals: A review and critique of the argument. Evol.Biol. 20, 283–317.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rieppel, O. (1988) Fundamentals of Comparative Biology. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rieppel, O. (1994) Species and history. In: Scotland, R.W., Siebert, D.J. and Williams, D.W. eds. Models in Phylogeny Reconstruction. Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 125–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, M.S. and Cohan, F.M. (1993). The effect of DNA sequence divergence on sexual isolation in Bacillus. Genetics 134, 401–408.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, D.E. (1978) Vicariant patterns and historical explanation in biogeography. Syst.Zool. 27, 159–188.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, D.E. (1979) Fishes from the upland and intermontane basins of Guatemala: Revisionary studies and comparative geography. Bull.Amer.Mus.Nat.Hist. 162, 267–376.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, G.G. (1961) Principles of Animal Taxonomy. Columbia Univ. Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slobodchikoff, C.N. (1976) Concepts of Species: Benchmark Papers in Systematic and Evolutionary Biology, Vol. 3. Dowden, Hutchinson, Ross, Stroudsburg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strange, R.M. and Burr, B.M. (1997) Intraspecific phylogeography of North American Highland fishes: a test of pleistocene vicariance hypothesis. Evolution 51, 885–897.

    Google Scholar 

  • Szalay, F.S. and Bock, W.J. (1991) Evolutionary theory and systematics: Relationships between process and patterns. Z.Zool.Syst. Evolut.-forsch. 29, 1–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Templeton, A.R. (1989) The meaning of species and speciation: a genetic perspective. In: Otte, D. and Endler, J. eds. Speciation and its Consequences. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA, pp. 3–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trémaux, P. (1865) Origine et Transformations de l'Homme et des Autres Etres. Hachette, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Valen, L. (1976) Ecological species, multispecies and oaks. Taxon 25, 233–239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vrana, P. and Wheeler, W. (1992) Individual organisms as terminal entities: Laying the species problem to rest. Cladistics 8, 67–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiley, E.O. (1978) The evolutionary species concept reconsidered. Syst.Zool. 27, 88–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiley, E.O. (1980) Is the evolutionary species fiction? – A consideration of classes, individuals and historical entities. Syst.Zool. 29, 76–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiley, E.O. (1981) Phylogenetics, the Theory and Practice of Phylogenetic Systematics. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yeates, D.K. (1995) Groundplans and exemplars: Paths to the tree of life. Cladistics 11, 343–357.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Mário C.C. de Pinna

    Present address: Setor de Ictiologia, Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 42694, São Paulo –, SP 04299-970, Brazil

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 11461, São Paulo – SP, 05422-970, Brazil

    Mário C.C. de Pinna

Authors
  1. Mário C.C. de Pinna
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

de Pinna, M.C. Species concepts and phylogenetics. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 9, 353–373 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008911414399

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008911414399

Keywords

Search

Navigation