I was just reading the Wikipedia article on the Kiang, after seeing the creature featured in the BBC TV series "Planet Earth".
I was a little confused by something that was stated:
"The kiang (E. kiang) is related to the onager or Asiatic Wild *** (E. hemionus), and some authorities classify it as a subspecies of onager, E. hemionus kiang, though recent molecular studies indicate that it is a distinct species."
I was under the impression that speciation is defined at a physiological level - i.e. speciation is considered to have occurred when two populations are no longer able to interbreed and produce fertile offspring.
So, HOW do you tell that E.kiang is a different species from E. hemionus on the basis of a molecular study? Are they simply talking about chromosomal number (which isn't really molecular)? Estimated %age difference in sequence would seem a fairly meaningless way to define a new species.
I'm quite confused - can anyone shed light on this for me?
2006-11-12
09:36:20
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5 answers
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asked by
the last ninja
6
in
Zoology