Species concepts and speciation

Some of the recent literature on species concepts and speciation is reviewed. It is evident that there is no single precise and objective definition of the species which is universally acceptable and applicable. Rather than trying to solve the species problem by searching for more definitions or separating the category of nomenclatural taxonomy from that of experimental research, it is suggested that it would be preferable to recognize and indeed stress that not all species are of the same kind. Different sorts of species should be recognized and understood in relation to different inherent characteristics and different strategies of evolution. We should thus recognize palaeospecies, morphospecies, sibling species, ring species, polytypic species, biospecies, introgressed species, hybrid species, compilospecies, agamospecies, gynogenetic species, and so on. It ought to be possible to devise a scheme for designating these and handling them then in a systematic manner.With reference to speciation, it is con...