title: Relict species: a relict concept?
abstract: Relict species have always beguiled evolutionary biologists and biogeographers, who often view them as fascinating 'living fossils' or remnants of old times. Consequently, they are believed to provide interesting and important information on a vanished past and are used to understand the evolution of clades and biotas. The information that relicts provide can, however, be misleading and overemphasised when it is not remembered that they belong to groups or biotas that are mostly extinct. For example, relict species imply regional extinctions and, for this reason, they cannot simultaneously provide evidence of local biota permanence. Here we consider carefully misconceptions about relict species and highlight more clearly their evolutionary and biogeographical significance.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), UMR 7205 CNRS MNHN UPMC EPHE, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP 50, 75005 Paris, France. Electronic address: pg@mnhn.fr.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grandcolas
authors.affiliation: Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), UMR 7205 CNRS MNHN UPMC EPHE, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CP 50, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Romain
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nattier
authors.affiliation: Ecology Group, IAE, Massey University, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Trewick
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005580:Fossils; D019684:Magnoliopsida / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D012104:Reptiles / Q000235:genetics*