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Two bees or not two bees ? An overview of bee orchid systematics

Two bees or not two bees ? An overview of bee orchid systematics

Two bees, or not two bees—that is the question :
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous concepts
Or to take arms against a sea of species
And by opposing, end them.
[with apologies to William Shakespeare]

 

Until recently, arguments regarding species circumscription focused on the boundary between science and pseudoscience, but in recent years they have also become a battleground between different branches of the biological sciences. Bee orchids of the genus Ophrys will be used as a case-study to explore how best to define and circumscribe species when a wide range of analytical approaches have been brought to bear on the problem yet an agreed solution remains elusive.

 

Published on: 14/05/2018 16:43 - Updated on: 07/08/2018 10:20

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