Species

The first animal genus defined purely by genetic characters represents a new era for the sorting and naming of animals.

Gene-sequence data is changing the way that botanists think about their classification schemes. A recent name-change for a common houseplant resulted from the discovery that it belonged in an overlooked genus.

Modelers find evidence that a combination of competition, predation and evolution will push ecosystems toward species diversity anywhere in the universe.

The rapid, unorthodox emergence of a new finch in the Galápagos hints that speciation isn’t rare. New hybrid species may quietly appear and disappear without anyone noticing.

Mitonuclear conflict — a struggle between the genes in a cell’s nucleus and its mitochondria — might sometimes split species in two.

Despite swapping DNA through interbreeding, butterflies and other animals can maintain distinct species.

A large new study of ovenbird lineages questions the extent to which competing species push each other to evolve.