BioConcepts

species characternota specifica (lat.); Artmerkmal (ger.)

• 1) Feature of an individual characteristic for the species it belongs to. (HWB)  
  category form

  1669

  Anonis montana præcox, purpurea frutescens: Suffrutex hix, est Bipedalis, Trifolii species, perpetua fronde virens, flores fert pendentes leguminosos f. Papileaceos, elegantèr purpureos: exeunte hyeme floret; quorum singulis succedunt singulæ filiquæ, hirsutæ biuncialis, natricis Plinii filiquis, multò craffiores, semina in se continentes majora; deliqua (coeterarum Anonidum, seminum more) patentia, qua nota specifica, indigitantur Anonides, à coeteris, trifoliurum classibus.

  Morison, R. (1669). Hortus Blesensis: 231.

  1737

  Annuas inter, &perennantes radice plantas sufficiens non intercedit nota specifica. Plurimæ enim plantæ spontanæ pereunes sunt, at in hortis cultæ annuæ evadunt: uti Beta, Majorana.

  Linné, C. von (1737) Critica botanica: 192.

  1750

  [all species serpents seem equally horrible to other animals, and the learned hitherto have not been able to fix any specific character of the several sorts of serpents

  Linnaeus, C. (1750). Of a small venomous Serpent, not before taken notice of. Gentleman’s magazine and historical chronicle 20 (Sept. 1750), 387-9: 387.]

  1764

  [Macula alba, parva, ante apicem extimum, jurta marginem anteriorum in omnibus. Hac singularis nota Speciei.

  Linné, C. von (1764). Museum S:æ R:æ Mitis Ludovicæ Ulricæ reginæ Suecorum, Gothorum: 378.]

  1775

  [Aó Alara C. quam descripsit Hasselquist, hæc aptera differt corpore longiore, & neuseo postice utrinque uno, transverso, reflexo; ao vero hæc nota speciei vel tantum sexus sit, incertus hæreo.

  Niebuhr, C. (ed.) (1775). Descriptiones animalium: avium, amphibiorum, piscium, insectorum, vermium; quae in itinere orientali observavit Petrus Forskål: 83.]

  1776

  [Specific-Character. One or more circumstances of a plant sufficient to distinguish it from every other plant of the same genus. The specific characters are generally taken from the leaves or stem; sometimes from the flowers; but seldom from the roots

  Withering, W. (1776). A Botanical Arrangement of All the Vegetables Naturally Growing in Great Britain: 805.]

  1798

  Die Insektenkunde wird besonders durch die den vielen Entdekkungen nicht mehr anzupassenden Unterscheidungs-Merkmale der Art (die ich Artunterscheidungen oder Artmerkmale nennen will) und durch den Mangel leicht aufzufindender Kennzeichen der Gattungen, erschwert.

  Kugelann, J.G. & Illiger, J.K.W. (1798). Verzeichniss der Käfer Preussens: xii.

  1800

  Neben dem lateinischen Trivialnamen einer jeden Art steht ein passender Deutscher. Auf diesen folgen die Artmerkmale, die nicht in einer bloßen Übersetzung aus dem System bestehen, sondern immer mit einem forschenden Blick aus der Natur selbst genommen sind.

  Sturm, S. (1800). Verzeichnis meiner Insecten-Sammlung, vol. 1: iii.

  1804

  [Quod spathae in Peperomiis vel alius figurae sunt vel breviores quam in Piperibus, potius nota speciei est, quam generis.

  Vahl, M. (1804). Enumeratio plantarum: 357.]

  1820

  Pallas hat diesen Unterschied des Näherzusammenliegens der Augen bei den Männchen nicht gekannt (obwohl schon Degeer davon redet, ihn auch an mehreren Arten abbildet), denn er gibt ihn in seinen Beschreibungen oft als Artmerkmal an.

  Meigen, J.W. (1818/20). Systematische Beschreibung der bekannten europäischen zweiflügeligen Insekten: 185.

  1853

  Der ranunculus aquatilis mit feingetheilten Blättern, deren Einschnitte behaart sind, soll auf dem Lande in ranunculus hederaceus mit ganzrandigen, unbehaarten Blättern übergehen. So mögen die Arten der mentha nach dem Standort ihre Artmerkmale ändern.

  Schaaffhausen, H. (1853). Über Beständigkeit und Umwandlung der Arten. Verh. naturhist. Ver. Preuss. Rheinl. Westphal. 10, 420-51: 425.

  1883

  In the crimping of the enamel we have a species character of specialization.

  Cope, E.D. (1883). Kowalevsky on Elasmotherium. American Naturalist 17, 72.

  1963

  species characters [...] any attribute of a species that differentiates it from other species (and is therefore ›diagnostic‹) and that is reasonable constant (invariable)

  Mayr, E. (1963). Animal Species and Evolution: 59; cf. id. (1969). Principles of Systematic Zoology: 121-2.

• 2) Characteristic feature of a species (as opposed to those of individuals). (HWB)
  category form

  1983

  Species selection requires species as units of selection and species adaptations that are not merely the simple additions of organism adaptations or other characters; thus resultant trends are adaptive, and the process is not reducible to natural selection within species. […] If all organisms in a species are black, black color is a species character.

  Vrba, E.S. (1983). Macroevolutionary trends: new perspectives on the roles of adaptation and incidental effect. Science 221, 387-389: 388-9.

  1984

  One can […], at least theoretically, propose that there might be analogous group or species characters in a “group phenotype” or a “species phenotype.” Numerous evolutionists have loosely labeled group or species characters as implicated in group or species selection. But as Williams (1966) has argued at length, most such characters can be treated as collective characters at the group or species level and the evolutionary fates of such groups or species as the collective consequences of selection at lower levels. Nonetheless, one can suggest that species characters that arise from distribution and interaction among organisms are emergent at the species level. Possible candidates indude characteristic population size, spatial and genetic separation between populations, and the nature of a species periphery (whether it is extensive and convoluted or not). Where such species characters are heritable and variable within a monophyletic group, they may causally interact with the environment in the process of species selection

  Vrba, E.S. & Eldredge, N. (1984). Individuals, hierarchies and processes: towards a more complete evolutionary theory. Paleobiology 10, 146-171: 154.

  1993

  We wish […] to extend the legitimate domain of species selection to aggregate characters. This extension of selection theory to the species level will concentrate […] on the relation between fitness and the species character, whether aggregate or emergent.

  Lloyd, E.A. & Gould, S.J. (1993). Species selection on variability. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 90, 595-599: 595.

  1997

  If population density is a species character in some taxa but not others, comparisons of several taxa may overlook the importance of particular characters if groups with low repeatability of species abundance are used in the comparisons

  Arneberg, P., Skorping, S. & Read, A.F. (1997). Is population density a species character? Comparative analyses of the nematode parasites of mammals. Oikos 80, 289-300: 297.

  1999

  [variability may in itself be an important species-level property

  Sterelny, K. & Griffiths, P.E. (1999). Sex and Death: 209.]