Very rarely, a hybridization event has produced a novel species -- an
occurance that requires more than one unusual biological event-in-one
time. A famous example is the Amazon molly, a clonal species that
originated perhaps 100K years ago as a result of a hybridization event
between sailfin and Mexican mollies. Hybridization sometimes occurs
because of habitats that are disturbed, or because of events that
result in individuals of disparate species being together in
microhabitats that one or the other might not usually occupy. During
an extreme drought on the Galapagos Islands a few years back, two
species of Darwin's finches hybridized in several pairs, and helped to
confirm some ideas about the biology and ancestry of both.
We still don't know everything about what a species is.
David L. McNeely, Ph.D., Professor of Biology
Langston University; P.O. Box 1500
Langston, OK 73050; email: dlmcneely-in-lunet.edu
telephone: (405) 466-6025; fax: 405) 466-3307
home page http://www.lunet.edu/mcneely/index.htm
"Where are we going?" "I don't know, are we there yet?"
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