Cryptic species: a challenge for modern systematic studies, biodiversity and conservation

Abstract

Taxonomy is involved with the identification, description, naming and classification of organisms whereas Systematics use the information generated by taxonomists to infer the evolutionary relationships among organisms. Both represent a fundamental framework for organismal biology studies. The use of molecular markers in the last decades has revitalized the area of systematics, by allowing the development of phylogenetic hypothesis between taxa, and improving the accuracy of defining species. Furthermore, molecular markers are very useful for recognizing Cryptic Species (those morphologically indistinguishable, but genetically distinct). The recognition and delimitation of cryptic species represents a challenge for our complete understanding of biodiversity, for the description of macroecological, biogeographical, and evolutionary patterns, and for studies on species conservation.