To prepare for a hiking trip in the Appalachian mountains,you buy several field guides for the region from a used bookstore.You notice that the older guides list a single species of tiger swallowtail butterfly,Papilio glaucus,and an Appalachian morph of this species.However,the newest guide list two separate species,P.glaucus and P.appalachiensis.The authors of this guide state that the biological species concept was used in determining their classifications.What do you think led them to list two separate species of tiger swallowtail?
A)The discovery that P.glaucus and P.appalachiensis interbreed in the wild.
B)The discovery that P.glaucus and P.appalachiensis have a genomic similarity of 99%.
C)The discovery that P.glaucus and P.appalachiensis do not interbreed in the wild.
D)The discovery that P.glaucus and P.appalachiensis have distinct differences in wing coloration.
E)The discovery that P.glaucus and P.appalachiensis feed on different host plants.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The fact that the authors used the biological species concept suggests that they were looking at the reproductive compatibility of the two populations. If they concluded that P. glaucus and P. appalachiensis do not interbreed in the wild, this would provide strong evidence that they are distinct species, even if they look similar morphologically.

To Prepare for a Hiking Trip in the Appalachian Mountains,you