What is a Species? Flashcards
Carl Linnaeus
Swedish naturalist who is the founding father of modern taxonomy
Taxonomy
Science of naming and organizing organisms into related groups
Binomial name
name that consists of 2 parts: Genus species and it it italicized
Is the binomial name ever shared between 2 different species?
NO
Rule of Priority
Once a species has officially been given a binomial name, the name cannot be changed unless it turns out that the organism is not really a new species
What must be done in order to name a new species?
The biologist must have the holotype and the biologist must publish a peer-reviewed description of the characteristics that make the new species unique.
Holotype
A physical example of the new species and it must be kept at a research instutution or museum so that other scientists may study it and be able to verify it as a distinct species and compare it to others.
Does a holotype have to be a complete specimen?
No it can be a parical fossil
Interspecific variation
Indivisuals that differ in morphology because they belong to different species
Intraspecific variation
Indivisuals that belong to the same species but have different morphologies
What are different types of inttraspecific variatin?
- Sexual dimorphism
- Ontogenic variation
- Indivisual variation
- Toxonomic variation
Sexual dimorphism
Male and females of the same species having different physical features (they look different)
Ontogenic variation
Variation that you see between young indivisuals of a species versus the older indivisuals of the same species
Indivisual variation
The normal variation that exists amoung indivisuals of a given species (size, colour, etc)
Taphonomic variation
Taphomonic processes such as plastic deformation change the shape of a bone
Biological species concept
Defines a species as a group of organisms that can successfully interbreed (cannot be applied to organisms that reproduce asexually)
Population
Any group of organism that live in the same geographic area and interbreed (one species)
Define species using the word populaion.
One or more populations can make up a single species
Morphological species concept
Defines a species as a group of organisms that share a certain degree of physical similarity
Lumpers
Paleontologists who require more differences before they consider 2 species are distinct
Splitters
Paleontologists who require fewer differences before they consider 2 species to be distinct
Describe the Holotype of Hesperonychus.
The pelvis fossil that eas fused together indivating it was fully grown but it was very small and had otherunique features that made it differ from other theropod dinos
