Parapatric Speciation - Ring Species

Ring Species

Parapatric speciation can occur across a set of neighboring populations in which each can interbreed with closer populations but end populations are too distantly related to interbreed. This population distribution of a species is referred to as a ring species. When an ancestral population extends its range around a geographical barrier and differentiates (despite low-level gene flow), reproductive isolation occurs between terminal populations. This results in technically continuous populations that undergo parapatric speciation; fertility is negatively correlated with distance between populations, and terminal populations between ring species become distinct sister species.

Read more about this topic:  Parapatric Speciation

Famous quotes containing the words ring and/or species:

    “With this Ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow.”
    —Book Of Common Prayer, The. Solemnization of Matrimony, “Wedding,” (1662)

    “As kings are begotten and born like other men, it is to be presumed that they are of the human species; and perhaps, had they the same education, they might prove like other men. But, flattered from their cradles, their hearts are corrupted, and their heads are turned, so that they seem to be a species by themselves.... Flattery cannot be too strong for them; drunk with it from their infancy, like old drinkers, they require dreams.”
    —Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)