Examples of where one species of animal turned out to be 2 different species of animals???

Question

And, and example of where 2 species were discovered to be the same species? Much appreciated!!

Answer 1

Grey treefogs were considered to be one species until it was discovered that one was diploid (normal number of chromosomes) and one was tetraploid (twice the number of chromosomes). Their songs are different too.

One embarassment was the description of Devisia mythodes, a snapping turtle supposedly from New Guinea. It was pointed out as an example of disjunct distribution (other snappers are only found in the Americas) for years. Finally, somebody compared it to a common snapping turtle and discovered that the turtle had just been mis-labeled. Oops!

Actually, it is quite common for a species to be described multiple times. When you write a monograph on the taxonomy of an organism, one of your jobs is to list all the names that have been used for it. That list can get quite extensive.

Answer 2

the devil bird turned out to be a Ceylon Highland Nightjar. Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi) is a medium-sized wild cat found on Borneo, Sumatra and the Batu Islands in the Malay Archipelago and publicised under that name by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on March 14, 2007. Its coat is marked with irregularly-shaped, dark-edged ovals which are said to be shaped like clouds, hence its common name. Though scientists have known of its existence since the early 19th century, it was positively identified as being a distinct species in its own right in 2006, having long been believed to be a subspecies of the mainland Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa). WWF quoted Dr. Stephen O'Brien of the U.S. National Cancer Institute as saying, "Genetic research results clearly indicate that the clouded leopard of Borneo should be considered a separate species.

Answer 3

Animals are constantly being reclassified as more information about them is learned.

There are taxonomic groups that are considered to be the authorities on the classification of animals (and the groups vary according to the main type of animal like insect, bird, etc.)  But most agree that to be considered the same species, the animals must be able to interbreed and create offspring who are successful and capable of reproducing themselves.

Some examples are:

The Bullock's Oriole and Baltimore Oriole were listed as different species - then thought to be the same species (grouped together as the Northern Oriole) then split out into two separate species again.

The Rufous-sided Towhee has been split into the Eastern Towhee and the Spotted Towhee.

Dogs, wolves, and dingos used to be considered separate species, but are now considered different sub-species of the same species.

Answer 4

One interesting example where a number of species were found to be actually one and the same species is the bull shark (*Carcharhinus leucas*).  Not until the landmark studies of Thomas B. Thorson in the 1960's was it properly understood that numerous freshwater sharks were actually females and juveniles of one and the same marine species.  

Female bull sharks migrate long distances into rivers to pup.  As a species found in all tropical and subtropical oceans, bull sharks have also been found in numerous rivers all over the world.  Record distances migrated into fresh water are recorded with 2,220 miles inland in the Amazon, as well as 1,800 miles up the Mississippi of a  female caught  at Alton merely 70 miles south of Chicago.  Neonatal bull sharks are immediately the apex predators in the rivers were they are born.  They stay for about a year until they have reached a total length of over 1 m and then migrate into coastal ocean waters.  

Initially, ichthyologists assumed that the specimens found in the various rivers around the world were members of individual freshwater species.  One population in Lake Nicaragua was assigned species status, just like those in the Ganges and in African rivers.  Thorson's tagging-and-release studies of Lake Nicaragua individuals then showed that these animals migrated into the sea and were all members of one and the same species.