CONCEPT OF SPECIES It is already been stated that individual organisms which have many features in common and able to interbreed in natural conditions are encompassed by the term species. Species is the smallest basic unit of classification. Its proper characterization is, therefore, of vital importance for a 'Natural' scheme of classification. Identifying species on the basis of reproduction, John Ray (1693) considered all individuals produced by parents of the same types as members of the same species. Linnaeus and Some others distinguished species merely on the basis of structure. Morphological Concept of Species This is the most practical and widely used species concept to describe species since people began to classify organisms. Taxonomists use this concept mostly by default because they know most of the species on Earth only from their morphology. New species are usually named on the basis of morphological species concept; morphological descriptions are all that we need
CONCEPT OF SPECIES
It is already been stated that individual organisms which have many features in common and able to interbreed in natural conditions are encompassed by the term species. Species is the smallest basic unit of classification. Its proper characterization is, therefore, of vital importance for a 'Natural' scheme of classification. Identifying species on the basis of reproduction, John Ray (1693) considered all individuals produced by parents of the same types as members of the same species. Linnaeus and Some others distinguished species merely on the basis of structure.
Morphological Concept of Species
This is the most practical and widely used species concept to describe species since people began to classify organisms. Taxonomists use this concept mostly by default because they know most of the species on Earth only from their morphology. New species are usually named on the basis of morphological species concept; morphological descriptions are all that we need to distinguish a new species from previous known one.
Typological Concept of Species
This concept of species is simple and widely accepted. According to this concept "all individuals of a species match the type specimen very closely". The 'type specimen' used for the nomenclature in this concept is called Holotype. Isotype is the copy of Holotype.The Paratype is the one which is cited with the original description but is neither holotype nor Isotype. Lectotype is the specimen from original material, in the absence of Holotype. Neotype is the new nomenclatural type when the original type is missing.
Biological Concept of Species
The biological concept of species was first proposed by famous ornithologist Ernst Mayr (1942). This concept defines species as, "groups of actually or potentially inter-breeding populations which are reproductively isolated from other such groups." Most of the animal species fit to this concept. However, many plants do not fit in this biological concept of species. This concept is useless in defining certain plant species, such as commercial banana or the navel orange, because many of these species reproduce asexually exclusively. Also, this concept is not very useful with palaeo (fossil) species because lack of information about reproductive biology of extinct species.
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