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> And, lo and behold: they found that there were actually five species of Physalia I am not sure there are different species, Wikipedia says one species and me

> And, lo and behold: they found that there were actually five species of Physalia I am not sure there are different species, Wikipedia says one species and mentioned at some point some thought there might be more than one. [1] An article published in New Zealand Geographic in 2002 [2] mentions multiple species a number of times but also states that Marine Biologist and taxonomist Emeritus Professor Philip Roy Pugh (RIP 2021) does not agree: > Phil Pugh, an English expert on world siphonophore jellies (of which the bluebottle is one), thinks not. He believes there is only a single worldwide bluebottle species, Physalia physalis, but that it varies greatly in size. Philip Pugh described a quarter of all known siphonophores [3], more than any one person. So he probably knew what he was talking about. There is a tendency in certain areas of biology to attribute extremely minor regional variation to new species. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_man_o%27_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_man_o%27_war [2] https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/summertime-blues/ https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/summertime-blues/ [3] https://noc.ac.uk/news/memoriam-philip-roy-pugh https://noc.ac.uk/news/memoriam-philip-roy-pugh

ivanbakel 2y ago
> There is a tendency in certain areas of biology to attribute extremely minor regional variation to new species. The article describes pretty much the opposite of this, though - the species found have no regional variation, and even overlap majorly. If the scientists involved in the paper cited by TFA have really found a large level of genetic diversity, I don’t see the point of arguing against their definition of species. It’s not a two way street, but sufficient genetic separation is enough to establish separate species, even ones indistinguishable to human eyes.
- Myrmornis 2y ago
  Sufficient genetic separation in the presence of range overlap. Otherwise you're just arguing about whether things are geographical races vs species, which can only be subjective. (Mayr and Haffer had it right)

ivanbakel 2y ago

> There is a tendency in certain areas of biology to attribute extremely minor regional variation to new species. The article describes pretty much the opposite of this, though - the species found have no regional variation, and even overlap majorly. If the scientists involved in the paper cited by TFA have really found a large level of genetic diversity, I don’t see the point of arguing against their definition of species. It’s not a two way street, but sufficient genetic separation is enough to establish separate species, even ones indistinguishable to human eyes.

Myrmornis 2y ago
Sufficient genetic separation in the presence of range overlap. Otherwise you're just arguing about whether things are geographical races vs species, which can only be subjective. (Mayr and Haffer had it right)