La sistemática filogenética y los conceptos de especies

LANTERI, ANALÍA A.

MENDELIANA

Sociedad Argentina de Genética

Lugar: Buenos Aires, Argentina; Año: 1995 vol. 11 p. 37 - 43

0325-223X

The word species refers to a rank of the Linnean hierarchy, to all taxa assigned to the species rank, and to groups of organisms that occur in nature beyond the human capacity to recognize them. According to the principles of the Phylogenetic Systematics or Cladistics, the biospecies are lineages of ancestral-descending populations that evolve independently from other lineages, and have their own history. Some cladists propose that species lacking derived characters (autapomorphies) are doubtful; on the contrary, other cladists are less strict in relation to the presence of autapomorphies. Species that exhibit sexual reproduction are different from those that reproduce asexually or parthenogenetically. DNA characters are very useful tools for the recognition of biospecies. It is necessary, however, to be aware about a reduccionist point of view that would lead to assign species rank to every monophyletic group of organisms. In order to avoid this problem, it is important that morphological systematists and molecular biologists work together.