Environment
Fact Checked

What is a Subspecies?

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

A subspecies is an individual division within a species, meaning that the members of the sub-group are individual enough that they cannot be lumped together, but they are not so distinct that they are entirely different species. This biological specification can be a bit confusing, and the categorizations are constantly being adjusted and changed to deal with new information. As a general rule, you can think of it as being almost like a race of individuals, although human races are not considered subspecies, for a variety of biological and political reasons.

Before delving into what makes a subspecies, it may help to think about the taxonomic rank of “species.” A species is an individual class of organisms that are distinctive from other animals, and unable to breed with other groups of animals. Members of a species are defined on the basis of their differences, which may be quite diverse or very minimal. For example, you can probably think of a lot of differences between an elephant and a pet cat, because these animals are considered to be different species, but there are also differences between Indian and African elephants that lead them to be classified as being in different species, despite superficial resemblances.

Domestic dogs are all of the subspecies Canis lupus familiaris.
Domestic dogs are all of the subspecies Canis lupus familiaris.

Many people think of “species” as the terminal taxonomic rank, since it does imply a sense of finality. In fact, many species are extremely diverse, and as a result, the smaller rank emerged to do justice to this diversity. The different subspecies within a species are distinctive and unique from each other, but they are still capable of interbreeding.

Indian elephants are subspecies of elephants.
Indian elephants are subspecies of elephants.

One example that you may be familiar with is the domestic dog, Canis lupus familiaris, as opposed to the wolf Canis lupus lupus, or the dingo, Canis lupus dingo. All of these animals can interbreed, but they are morphologically distinct, and they lead very different lives. Within the genus of Canus, lupus is considered to be a “polytypic species,” meaning that it has a number of subspecies; a species with no smaller divisions is called a “monotypic species.”

African elephants are classified as a different species from Indian elephants.
African elephants are classified as a different species from Indian elephants.

There are a number of ways to indicate a subspecies. In the method used above, animals are identified as Genus species subspecies. You may also see “ssp” or “subspecies” in binomial nomenclature, like this: Panthera tigris ssp. altaica, for the Siberian tiger.

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a AllThingsNature researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a AllThingsNature researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

You might also Like

Discussion Comments

CuriousRay

For organisms which do not breed sexually, how is a species defined, simply by subjective criteria such as magnitude of differences?

CuriousRay

Would it be incorrect to explain the species/subspecies relationship in terms of sets? Each species is a set of organisms which can interbreed with each other, but which cannot interbreed with organisms that are not members of the set.

A subspecies is a subset of a species which is somehow separated from, or highly distinctive from the rest of the species, but not in ability to interbreed with the rest of the species. Also, subspecies can often be described as "fuzzy" sets, i.e., their definitions are not "hard and fast", while the definitions of species are rather unambiguous: "Breeding is possible only within the species/set". I realize, of course, that my definition only applies to organisms which breed sexually.

Post your comments
Login:
Forgot password?
Register:
    • Domestic dogs are all of the subspecies Canis lupus familiaris.
      By: Melinda Nagy
      Domestic dogs are all of the subspecies Canis lupus familiaris.
    • Indian elephants are subspecies of elephants.
      By: Helen Vedmed
      Indian elephants are subspecies of elephants.
    • African elephants are classified as a different species from Indian elephants.
      By: dmussman
      African elephants are classified as a different species from Indian elephants.