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Monotypic taxon

In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and restoration ecology concerning a dominant invasive biological type.

Botany

In botany, a monotypic taxon is a taxon that has only one species: Ginkgo is a monotypic genus, while Ginkgoaceae is a monotypic family. The phrase is not accurate in cases where a species includes more than a single type; some species may include several subspecies (or other infraspecific taxa) each of which will have a type. A more accurate term in those cases is unispecific. :An example is the family Cephalotaceae, with only one species: Cephalotus follicularis, the Albany Pitcher Plant.

Zoology

In zoology, a monotypic taxon is a taxon that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. For example, a monotypic genus has only one species. Conversely, one can say that the contained taxon is monotypic within the larger taxon; a genus monotypic within a family. :An example is the genus Tarsius which is monotypic within the family Tarsiidae, which is itself monotypic in the Tarsiiformes. An example of a monotypic species is the Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus), in which no subspecies can be distinguished. The Bearded Reedling (Panurus biarmicus) has numerous subspecies across its range, but belongs to the genus Panurus (monotypic as to species), which current knowledge considers monotypic within the family Panuridae.

In the view of evolutionary biology, taxonomy is a means to represent phylogenetic knowledge. Thus, it is usually avoided to establish monotypic taxa if this does not seem warranted e.g. by phylogenetic evidence such as fossils or inference from cladistic analyses.

Conservation biology and habitats

Monotypic habitats occur in botanical and zoological contexts, a component of conservation biology. In restoration ecology of native plant communities or habitats some Invasive species create monotypic stands that replace and/or prevent other species, especially indigenous ones, from growing there. A dominant colonization can occur from retardant chemicals exuded, nutrient monopolization, or from lack of natural controls such as herbivores or climate, that keep them in balance their native habitats. The Yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis) species is a botanical monotypic habitat example of this, currently dominating over in California alone.. The non-native freshwater Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) species colonizing areas of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Watershed, without its home range predator control, is a zoological monotypic habitat example.

Footnotes

References

(1991): Principles of Systematic Zoology (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-041144-1 (2002): Generic revisions of emydine turtles. ''Turtle and Tortoise Newsletter 6: 28–30. PDF fulltext

Category:Scientific classification Category:Speciation Category:Invasive plant species Category:Invasive animal species Category:Conservation biology

This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.

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Silk Worms Factory, Thailand by Asiatravel.com

Order: Reorder
Duration: 1:16
Published: 2009-07-23
Uploaded: 2011-01-09
Author: AsiaTravelTV

For Bookings: www.asiatravel.com For More Video: book.asiatravel.com The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of Bombyx mori (Latin: "silkworm of the mulberry tree"), the domesticated silkmoth. A moth in the family Bombycidae, it is very important economically as the producer of silk. It is entirely dependent on humans for its reproduction and no longer occurs naturally in the wild. Sericulture has been practised for at least 5000 years in China. A silkworm's preferred food is white mulberry leaves, but it may also eat the leaves of the Osage Orange or the Tree of Heaven. It is native to northern China. Its nearest wild relative is Bombyx mandarina which is able to hybridize with the domestic taxon, and which ranges from northern India to northern China, Korea and Japan. It is not known when the domestic silkmoth diverged from its wild relatives, only that the domestic population originated from inland Chinese rather than Japanese or Korean stock.[1] Molecular clock studies suggesting an age of many millions of years[citation needed] cannot be taken seriously, as they assume that both species have evolved with constant speed since their divergence.[citation needed] This is not correct however due to the domestication process having accelerated the pace of evolution (a similar problem affects the attempt to resolve the phylogeny of domestic Western honey bee subspecies). In fact, the domestic silkworm has undergone such strong artificial selection that it is completely <b>...</b>

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