The colloquial definition of a species is clearly flawed. The ability to breed with another member of a group discounts asexual reproduction and hybridization. So, when we hear that scientists discovered x number of new species in a given year, what does that mean? Have they tested whether or not these newly discovered lifeforms can breed with others? Are they just going off looks or Phenotype? Are they sequencing the DNA? How do they decide this, over here, is a new species, but this one over here isn’t? What definition of species are they using?
In: Biology
The process is called species delimitation.
It includes comparing the animals with known species in many categories, including which other animals they reproduce with. But genetic analysis/sequencing has become a very significant part of the process.
It’s true that “ability to breed with members of another group” was the critical differentiator for a very long time, but biologists acknowledge that that isn’t the hard and fast rule they once thought it was. There are lots of examples of members of different species reproducing, though most of those offspring end up sterile.
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