What We Don't Recognize Can Hurt Us: A Plea for Awareness About Cryptic Species
Por:
de Leon, GPP, Nadler S.A.
Publicada:
1 abr 2010
Resumen:
We conducted an extensive literature review on studies that have used DNA sequences to detect cryptic species of parasites during the last decade. Each literature citation that included the term "cryptic" or "sibling" species was analyzed to determine the approach used by the author(s). Reports were carefully filtered to retain only those that recognized the existence of cryptic species centered on the use of DNA sequences. Based on analysis of these papers, we comment on the different ways that parasite cryptic species are discovered in studies focusing on different aspects of the host parasite relationship, or disciplines, within parasitology. We found a lack of methodological and theoretical uniformity in the discipline for finding and delimiting cryptic species, and we draw attention to the need for standardizing these approaches. We suggest that cryptic species, in the strict sense, are always provisionally cryptic, in that the possibility does exist that new morphological studies
Filiaciones:
de Leon, GPP:
Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Biol, Dept Zool, Mexico City 04510, DF, Mexico
Nadler S.A.:
Departamento de Zoología, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ap. Postal 70-153, C.P. 04510 México D.F, Mexico
Department of Nematology, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, United States
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