A novel approach for finding ring species: look for barriers rather than rings

摘要

Ring species, in which two different forms coexist in one region while being connected by a long chain of interbreeding populations encircling a geographic barrier, provide clear demonstrations of the evolution of one species into two. Known ring species are rare, but now Monahan et al . propose an intriguing new approach to discovering them: focus first on geography to find potential barriers. See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/10/20