Animals That Seem Identical May Be Distinct Species
Researchers at University of Gothenburg, Sweden have used DNA analyses to discover that one of the most common segmented worms is actually two types of worms, suggesting that the biodiversity of species on earth could be larger than initially thought.
Researchers examined segmented worms and conducted DNA analyses, discovering that the worms were in fact two different species. However, both species differed in one of the examined genes by 17%, which is twice as much as the equivalent difference between humans and chimpanzees.
The fact that some types of animals may represent distinct species but look identical to other species calls into question the efficacy of animal experiments, because members of different species may react differently to induced toxins, stress, etc.