Re:Welcome to the Virosphere
by throwaway5466 on Tuesday March 24, 2020 @02:12PM
(#22677120)
Yeah. Basically the concept of species is bust taxonomically and largely a social construct at this point. (That is to say, what is a species is what the community agrees to be a species for the sake of convenience)
The boundary isn't very clear.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_species
A can breed with B, B can breed with C, C can breed with D, and D can breed with A.
But A cannot breed with C.
Are A and C part of the same species, or not? These "ring species" occur around geographic rings, such as the Arctic Circle, so each population remains genetically compatible with its neighbors... but not "across the ring".
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/Ri...