>Of course, Joe may just want to argue that 'ole spotty should
>be split as well, but since he seems to be taking a conservative
>stance in the argument, I doubt it.
>
>- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>

I liked Gene's posting, too.

And you're right that there's a lot of interruption to gene flow out there,
which would almost seem to point the BSC and the PSC in the same direction
in many cases that might be counterintuitive from our classical definitions
of species, viz. wouldn't anyone think that all Spotted Owls were in the
same species?

Well, in fact there are molecular differences between the "Mexican" spotted
and the other populations, and splitting it has been discussed. Whew! The
publishers of field guides will just get richer, with all those revisions
to come.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416