Are giraffes one polymorphic species or many species
?The dots on the African map indicate
sampling sites. The solidlines
link numbered sampling locations to (a) common skin
patterns and (b) haplotype sampling
location (1-W. African, 2-Rothschilds, 3-Reticulated, 4-Masai, 5-S.
African, 6-Angolan).The
phylogeny links 18 unique mitochondrial haplotypes. The
numbers mark haplotype branch tips or
tip clusters,sampled in one of
the 6 locations.

a) Comment on the skin pattern
variation among geographical
locations, provide reasons for classifying them as
allopatric, sympatric or parapatric
and based on skin pattern morphology and location, justify a number of
potential species.

b) Describe the mitochondrial
phylogeny and the branching pattern, the deepest (basal) to sister
branches or clustersand based
on this, argue how many species the phylogeny indicates.

c) You have to make a decision about the meaning of the giraffe
data (genetic phylogeny, geography, morphology).Argue why your species number solution is the
most parsimonous, based on the data you have
interpreted.