Hyperdistortia Posted July 4, 2018 Report Share Posted July 4, 2018 Hey, guys. So, as a junior evolutionary biologist, I get quite excited about learning who came first and what the most recent common ancestor of which species is which. But then I stumbled onto this -- Dynastes alcides? I've never heard of this species before. I have to assume it lives somewhere in the Americas since the map says it's closely related to both Dynastes hercules and Dynastes neptunus. So, does anyone know anything at all about this species? Is it new or is the map wrong? And am I reading this map right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goliathus Posted July 4, 2018 Report Share Posted July 4, 2018 I believe that by current nomenclature, Dynastes alcides is synonymous with D. hercules baudrii, a subspecies of D. hercules present in Martinique and St Lucia. Formerly, D. alcides (Fabricus, 1781) seems to have been a name used for D. hercules in general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyperdistortia Posted July 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2018 Ah, then mystery solved. Thanks, Goliathus. Also, I'm reading this paper, and from my understanding, it seems to be saying that there should really not be as many subspecies of D. hercules as we describe, right? And that they should really be classified as wholly different species. For example, instead of D. hercules lichyi we should just say D. lichyi. Am I correct in this? https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/138820 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goliathus Posted July 4, 2018 Report Share Posted July 4, 2018 I believe the main reason for dividing a species up into various, separate species (or at least, subspecies) is that it provides the opportunity for taxonomists to write papers. D. hercules has a wide distribution, with many geographical races separated by natural boundaries of one kind or another. There's probably no significant reason to start dividing up all of these subspecies into separate species - they're all capable of interbreeding, anyway. D. hercules can hybridize with D. hyllus - could hyllus actually be a ssp. of hercules? Or, might it actually be a ssp. of granti? D. tityus and granti can hybridize and produce fertile offspring. Might tityus and granti just be geographical variations of the same species? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyperdistortia Posted July 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2018 So, what you're saying is that it's irrelevant whether they're separate species or not since they can all, to some degree, hybridize and produce fertile/viable offspring? Makes sense. I just want to know if it's ok to call D. hercules lichyi that or just say D. lichyi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goliathus Posted July 4, 2018 Report Share Posted July 4, 2018 I think the general consensus is that lichyi is indeed a ssp. of hercules. It seems that so long as two species are not separated by any more than about 2 million years of speciation, they should (theoretically) be able to naturally hybridize. It is suspected that in some cases, even species separated by more than 2 million years may still be able to naturally hybridize. Mismatched numbers of chromosomes don't always prevent this. If two species are capable of hybridizing with each other, they will, if the opportunity arises. Whether or not the offspring of such crossings are fertile however - the results tend to be rather mixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyperdistortia Posted July 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2018 Ah, gotcha. Thanks for clarifying that for me, Goliathus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.