Creating species complexes

Like most difficult issues, I sit on the fence. So I’ll just point out that species complexes are an ongoing point of contention.

A general search of species complex: https://forum.inaturalist.org/search?q=species%20complex

A discussion closely related to this one: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/more-on-species-complexes/30564

Species group as a new rank: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/create-a-new-taxon-rank-for-inaturalist-the-species-group/14543

I think maybe the most important question is the one you asked in the second post–what is the reason of having a complex? Is there a value to the biological community–perhaps beyond just sorting things into smaller groups. What is the value of having things sorted into smaller groups which are not necessarily “real” biological groups (evolutionary lineages).

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