Three sisters in the same dress: cryptic speciation in African odonates.
The discovery of cryptic species (i.e. two or more distinct but morphologically undistinguishable species) has grown exponentially in the last two decades, due mainly to the increasing availability of DNA sequences. This suggests that hidden in the known species, many of which have been described based solely on morphological information, there might be a high number of species waiting to be discovered. In this issue Damm et al. (2010) use a combination of genetic, morphological and ecological evidence to identify the first cryptic species complex found within dragonflies (insect order Odonata). Their findings add more evidence for the importance of combining information from different disciplines to new species' discovery (DeSalle et al. 2005).
Cordero-Rivera
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Grupo ECOEVO, Universidade de Vigo, EUET Forestal, Pontevedra, Galiza, Spain. adolfo.cordero@uvigo.es
Lorenzo-Carballa
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D000818:Animals; D017753:Ecosystem; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D007313:Insecta / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity