A river takes a new path and divides a species of skinks into two isolated populations. Climate changes gradually cause the river to dry up, bringing the two populations together again, but when individuals of the two populations mate, the resulting hybrids are sterile. This is an example of
A) sympatric speciation.
B) allopolyploid speciation.
C) allopatric speciation.
D) parapatric speciation.
E) reproductive speciation.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This is an example of allopatric speciation, where a species is divided into two or more isolated populations (in this case, by a river) leading to speciation. When the populations are brought back together, they are no longer able to interbreed successfully, indicating that they have evolved into distinct species while they were isolated.

A River Takes a New Path and Divides a Species