Question

A new paper just published a new phylogeny of the elephants. There has long been a question of whether African forest (Loxodonta cyclotis) and savanna (Loxodonta africana) elephants are different species. This is a critical question as they are both imperiled but the forest populations are under much higher threat.

Examine the tree below from this study to answer the question: "Are African forest and savannah elephants different species?". Apply the criteria of the biological species concept to determine your answer.
O A.) yes
O B.) No
O C.) Can’t tell from this information

Answer 1

The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) and the African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) are different species, so, A.) yes.

What is a biological species concept?

The biological species concept defines a species as a group of individuals that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring with each other, but are reproductively isolated from other groups. The phylogenetic tree shows that the African forest elephant and the African savanna elephant have separate lineages that diverged millions of years ago. This suggests that they are reproductively isolated from each other, and therefore meet the criteria for being different species.

In addition, the phylogenetic tree shows that the African forest elephant and the African savanna elephant are more closely related to each other than they are to any other living elephant species. This suggests that they are sister species, which is the closest taxonomic relationship between two species.

Therefore, based on the phylogenetic tree and the biological species concept, the answer to the question "Are African forest and savannah elephants different species?" is yes.