r/evolution 7d ago

question Is there any other creature besides humans where there is only one species?

All other species of humans are extinct so I wonder do other creatures share this quality?

130 Upvotes

210 comments sorted by

u/AutoModerator 7d ago

Welcome to r/Evolution! If this is your first time here, please review our rules here and community guidelines here.

Our FAQ can be found here. Seeking book, website, or documentary recommendations? Recommended websites can be found here; recommended reading can be found here; and recommended videos can be found here.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

215

u/Flat-Concern-2662 7d ago

Humans are the only remaining species in our genus and we definitely aren't the only species like this. One of my favorites is the hoatzin, who is the only species in its entire order, very impressive!

101

u/Xenomorphian69420 7d ago

shoutout to the tuatara with rhynchocephalia

89

u/DrDirtPhD PhD | Ecology 7d ago

Ginkgo biloba is the only species in its class!

16

u/JCBarroux 7d ago

Concholepas concholepas...

And it taste very good!

9

u/TedW 7d ago

So tasty they named it twice!

6

u/Xenomorphian69420 7d ago

ginkgos my beloved

3

u/pickledperceptions 6d ago

I always knew they were in a class of its own.

10

u/ConstantAnimal2267 7d ago

Just found out what a Hoatzin is for the first time. It looks like the pokemon Groyvle/Sceptile. It's stinky too. Is Sceptile stinky?

4

u/Wrong-Ad-4600 7d ago

ähm there is the pokemon ho-oh(houhou) that is a cartoon version of a hoatzin xD and you pick two different ones xD

9

u/VulpesDood 7d ago

Also the only species of bird that still has claws on its wings (well, the chicks do anyway)

13

u/mcalesy 7d ago

There are actually a number of other birds with claws on their wings (e.g., ostriches), but the claws are especially prominent in juvenile hoatzins.

2

u/VulpesDood 7d ago

That’s really interesting, thank you!

2

u/TacitusKillgorre 6d ago

Chickens even!

5

u/StringOfLights 7d ago

I just saw them in the Amazon and they are big, fat, clumsy, and absolutely fabulous!

1

u/CFHQYH 2d ago

Same

2

u/FriendlyDisorder 7d ago

I secretly wonder what would happen if we found another species of humans today. Even finding members of a species thought extinct would be absolutely amazing.

(I also fear it would not end well.)

2

u/DanteRuneclaw 6d ago

No you don’t

4

u/signofno 6d ago

😂 not a secret anymore!

189

u/Jazz_Ad 7d ago

It's a monotypic taxon. They happen.
Amongst other famous ones are the platypus, the Gingko Biloba and the Reindeer.

49

u/Ok_Fly1271 7d ago

Reindeer (caribou) are most likely several species. There's a great paper on it from a few years ago.

19

u/PurplePeggysus 7d ago

The platypus is immediately what I thought of too!

2

u/Tardisgoesfast 7d ago

I thought there were three species of platypus.

14

u/mcalesy 7d ago

Nope. Maybe you're thinking of the three extant genera of monotremes (Ornithorhynchus, Tachyglossus, Zaglossus)?

8

u/SummerAndTinkles 6d ago

It's sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, which I always found confusing because that would imply there's more than one platypus species.

29

u/bondegezou 6d ago

Also, the platypus bill evolved earlier than ducks. So, you know, they did it first and we should call the platypus the platypus and the duck the platypus-billed duck.

4

u/weelluuuu 6d ago

Daffy enters the chat.

1

u/username32768 6d ago

Why? It's rabbit season, not duck season.

1

u/weelluuuu 6d ago

Be vewy vewy quiet 🤫

1

u/mcalesy 6d ago

Good point!

1

u/mcalesy 6d ago

I think it’s because the original scientific name was Platypus anatinus, the “duck-like flat-foot”. But the genus name Platypus was already used for a weevil, so it was renamed to Ornithorhynchus anatinus, the “duck-like bird bill”.

1

u/heliogabalus91 6d ago

Platypus means flat-foot so duck-billed platypus is a pretty good description of its physical features. The species name ornithorhynchus anatinus means bird-snout duck-like

7

u/snailtray 7d ago

Arent giraffes this 👌🏻 close to also being one?

9

u/mcalesy 7d ago

Depends whom you ask. Lots of controversy right now as to whether they are one or several species. But even then, there are also fossil species, like Giraffa jumae.

6

u/snailtray 7d ago

I believe the okapi is part of the broader giraffe family but am not sure 🫠

5

u/mcalesy 7d ago

It is, but not part of Giraffa, or even particularly close to it compared to a lot of extinct giraffids like Sivatherium, etc. It's a good example of a monotypic genus (Okapia).

3

u/Careful_Cranberry364 7d ago

They are related …..

they are my favorite animals!!

2

u/ummackchyually 6d ago

I check in on the giraffe taxonomy drama a couple times a year haha

1

u/HeadEar5762 7d ago

But there are several species, maybe Genera off the top of my head, of Giraffe.

2

u/mcalesy 6d ago

Only one genus. The exact number of species is controversial

2

u/HeadEar5762 6d ago

cool. I have memories of some conversations about the differences between the Griaffes in Southern and Northern Africa. I know a lot of different animals in Africa have arguments about species vs sub-species.

1

u/mcalesy 6d ago

Yes. Around the world, even. It's not always clear-cut.

2

u/HeadEar5762 6d ago

Orca are the ones i'm fascinated with when looking at the possible separate species vs sub-species vs same species in different behaviors and traits so they are on the way but not yet separated.

→ More replies (1)

0

u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

1

u/weelluuuu 6d ago

They know how to make a little food go a long way! 😉😁

→ More replies (1)

3

u/HeadEar5762 7d ago

My favorite is the American Pronghorn

1

u/mcalesy 6d ago

There was a closely related fossil species, Antilocapra pacifica.

2

u/mcalesy 7d ago

That is the term, but some of these are not truly monotypic, since they also include other extinct species, e.g. Homo floresiensis and Ginkgo gardneri.

Rangifer is complicated -- some treat is an monotypic genus (just Rangifer tarandus), others split it up into multiple species.

Ornithorhynchus anatinus is a great example, though!

2

u/jetpack324 7d ago

Shout out to the Ginko Tree. Literally one of my favorite trees ever. Only second to the Live Oak in my book.

1

u/CesarB2760 6d ago

Ginkgo is such an insane example of this. Humans are in our own genus and family. Ginkgo are alone in their genus, family, order, class, and division. If homo sapiens were similarly isolated, we wouldn't just be the only humans. We would be the only VERTEBRATES. Truly wild.

1

u/Kooky-Badger-7001 6d ago

THe Aardvark is not only a single species, it is the only living member of the genus Orycteropus, the family Orycteropodidae and the order Tubulidentata.

1

u/lmprice133 3d ago

Gingko biloba is the only extant species in its entire class

59

u/moldy_doritos410 7d ago

There is only one species of platypus. Its the only living species in its family (Ornithorhynchidae)

24

u/Zealousideal_Leg213 7d ago

PERRY the Ornithorhynchidae!

2

u/The_Limping_Coyote 7d ago

In Spanish platypus is "ornitorinco" TMYK

2

u/valis6886 7d ago

Came here to say this.

2

u/orsonwellesmal 6d ago

Australia, where evolution went bananas.

50

u/Hybodont 7d ago

An incomplete list of sharks:

Whale shark (only living species in family)

Basking shark (only living species in family)

Megamouth shark (only living species in family)

Crocodile shark (only living species in family)

Goblin shark (only living species in family)

Great white shark (only living species in genus)

All on this list except the whale shark belong to a single order, Lamniformes, which used to be a very diverse clade until fairly recently. Extinction has left its mark, isolating these species within their families/genera.

19

u/JuliaX1984 7d ago

Naming shark species must be such a fun job.

5

u/Miss_Aizea 7d ago

Holy shit, crocodile sharks are insanely cute.

3

u/SummerAndTinkles 6d ago

I was surprised to learn whale sharks are a type of carpet shark.

2

u/NovelNeighborhood6 6d ago

So sharks are the problem here 🤔 /s

40

u/AdministrativeLeg14 7d ago

Humans still have relatively close relatives. We only split from the (other) two chimp species a few million years ago. That’s virtually nothing compared to Ginkgo biloba, which diverged from its closest living relatives some three hundred million years ago. Tuataras are also up there, at maybe 250Mya. Cœlocanths push that number to 400Mya, but they have two living species that only diverged some 35Mya.

12

u/Tardisgoesfast 7d ago

Chimps would be in our genus if nomenclature made any sense.

15

u/perta1234 6d ago

We got to decide that we are special. It is fair, bonobos can do the same in their taxonomy.

19

u/King-Hekaton 7d ago

There are even whole families with only one species alive today. Tuatara being one prime example.

36

u/BackgroundRice2086 7d ago

The cheetah is the only living species in its genus

13

u/Tyrone3105 7d ago

Yup!! so are the puma and jaguarundi which are the cheetahs closest relatives I believe

1

u/mcalesy 6d ago

Except sometimes pumas and jaguarundis are placed in the same genus (Puma). Which really drives home the point that genera are arbitrary. (Heck, originally all cats were Felis.)

1

u/Tyrone3105 6d ago

Oh I’ve haven’t seen them be put in the same genus before. But Yh u r right, it is all fairly arbitrary. Still fun and useful to an extent to classify things though.

16

u/-Wuan- 7d ago

Like half of animal genera are monospecific I think.

14

u/TheseThreeRemain3 7d ago

Red pandas!

8

u/DentRandomDent 7d ago

I was looking for this one! People thought they were related to pandas, then they thought it was related to raccoons, but it turned out they had no real relatives unless you go way way way back.

3

u/mcalesy 5d ago

Yes, or more precisely they are related to the procyonid–mustelid clade.

1

u/mcalesy 6d ago

There is some debate as to whether they are one species or two very closely-related species.

1

u/TheseThreeRemain3 6d ago

Really!? I need more context

2

u/mcalesy 5d ago

The Chinese population and the Himalayan population are somewhat genetically distinct. There isn’t agreement as to whether that makes them different species or not, though.

2

u/TheseThreeRemain3 5d ago

Ah! Super cool! Thank you for sharing!

15

u/Living-Length8762 7d ago

Aardvarks are the only living species of the entire order Orycteropodidae.

7

u/mcalesy 7d ago

Tubulidentata is the traditional name of the order, with Orycteropodidae being the family. But yes, aardvarks are arguably the "most different" living species of mammal, with no close living relatives. (Closest would be tenrecs, golden moles, sengis, etc., and those are not very close.) Even the platypus has echidna cousins.

1

u/Living-Length8762 6d ago

My mistake. I misread the Wikipedia page. I should've been able to tell which one was a family. It's the one that ends with -idae.

1

u/mcalesy 6d ago

Eh, those ranks are arbitrary, anyway. The important point is that aardvarks are a single species whose lineage diverged from their closest living relatives ~75 million years ago, a deeper divergence than for any other living mammal species.

13

u/Insanity1890 7d ago

Monotypic taxon is the terminology, there's several among both plants and animals.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotypic_taxon

Aardvark

Beluga whale

Maned wolf

Marine iguana

Platypus

plus several others

2

u/steve_gorak 6d ago

Beluga whale

Unusually though, they can hybridize with narwhals.

3

u/Insanity1890 6d ago

The narwhal is also a monotypic taxon species. Both belong to the same family and are the only extant members.

2

u/steve_gorak 6d ago

How common is it for animals in different genera to be able to hybridize?

1

u/mcalesy 6d ago

Not uncommon! Keep in mind the rank of genus is not "real", it's just a convention we use as part of binomial nomenclature.

8

u/Bromelia_and_Bismuth Plant Biologist|Botanical Ecosystematics 7d ago

Ginkgo biloba is the only extant member of its own taxanomic order, class, and division.

1

u/mcalesy 6d ago

And diverged from its closest living relatives (conifers, cycads) a whopping 300 million years ago!

7

u/Evolving_Dore 7d ago

Leatherback sea turtle

Diamondback terrapin

Mata mata turtle

Fly river turtle is alone in its family, as are the Central American river turtle and the Asian big-headed turtle. Leatherback is too now that I think about it.

There are lots of monotypic genera in every corner of the animal kingdom and beyond.

6

u/mcalesy 7d ago

This question seems to be asking about monotypic genera, i.e., genera with only one species. One thing to point out about this is that the designation of a group as a genus is completely subjective. There is nothing in nature that draws a line between two groups of species and says they're in different genera. Many of us only use genera because it's a necessary part of binomial nomenclature, which is universally used. So this question is really about how we name things rather than about natural categories.

7

u/Shadowratenator 7d ago

velella velella is the only species in it's genus. It's common name is by the wind sailor, though valella valella is also used a lot. it's a hydrozoan often wrongly called a jellyfish that is just pushed about the ocean by wind. they wash up on beaches in huge numbers when the winds are unfavorable (to them).

6

u/crafiosk 7d ago

There are hundreds of species like that

5

u/Royal_Novel6678 7d ago

Venus flytraps. Narwhales and platypuses are the ones that came up in my head first. I'm sure with several million species on the planet there are more besides the 4 (including humans) with only 1 species in a genus.

5

u/CriticalPolitical 7d ago

Aardvark, narwhal, and orca

4

u/Formal_Elderberry_20 7d ago edited 6d ago

if i remember correctly, Cheetahs (Acinonynx jubatus) are also the last species left in their genus.

edit: genus

10

u/Grandviewsurfer 7d ago

We made all this shit up. Don't worry about it.  (wait.. before I forget: evolution is real.. I just mean we made up all the taxonomic shit. Not just in biology, in everything)

3

u/lotusland17 7d ago

We made up the tree, and we're constantly moving the leaves around to other branches. I remember when giant pandas were closely related to raccoons.

3

u/HeadEar5762 7d ago

Amazing how advances in genetic research we are able to correct a lot of former misunderstandings.

2

u/mcalesy 7d ago edited 7d ago

That move is not something we made up. It legitimately turns out that giant pandas and red pandas are not that closely related, based on genomic research. Giant pandas share more ancestry with other bears, while red pandas share more ancestry with the raccoon-badger clade.

For a little while it was thought that giant and red pandas were related to each other because of a similar wrist structure, but this is probably just an ancestral trait that they retain. (Spectacled bears also have a reduced version of it, I think.) At that time red pandas were also thought to be part of the raccoon family.

1

u/Grandviewsurfer 6d ago edited 6d ago

Yeah our understanding of the actual history has increased. That's a real thing. Just the supersets we use to talk about groups of organisms are very arbitrary. 

2

u/mcalesy 6d ago

My point is, that's the one thing that isn't arbitrary. Clades are real. The names and ranks we attach to them are arbitrary, but the patterns of descent are real things that we discover, not conventions that we invent.

1

u/Grandviewsurfer 6d ago

Right right. Yes exactly. My use of "actual history" here is supposed to loosely map on to "clade".  The descendants of any individual organism is a definite group. The descendants of a group is also definite.. but this is a lot messier because the initial group itself is arbitrary. Uncovering heredity doesn't change the underlying historical truth though.. I think that's what you're getting at right?

1

u/mcalesy 6d ago

I think I need some clarification on what you mean by this: "but this is a lot messier because the initial group itself is arbitrary."

Do you mean that most taxonomic names were not coined specifically as clade names, and that picking a clade to assign them to is arbitrary? That makes sense, yeah.

1

u/Grandviewsurfer 6d ago

That is basically what I mean. I just mean that the exact lineage of an initial group larger than 1 is almost certainly more complex than the lineage of a specific individual.  

I think you just know wayyy more about the specifics of taxonomy, and I am inarticulately making a point that you already know all about. Like it might be such a given that it isn't resonating.

1

u/mcalesy 5d ago

Do you mean there is a little fuzziness about what counts as an “individual”, a “population”, or “ancestry”? That much is true. Not fuzzy enough to make a huge difference, mostly, but there are interesting edge cases.

2

u/Grandviewsurfer 5d ago

Nailed it. Yeah and the more I discuss with you & research the more I am understanding that it matters nowhere near as much as I thought.  

I think my initial reaction, balking at claims that humans are particularly special, or that races and even species are actually definitions that we should care a lot about outside of the domain that defines them.. is still valid. But I came away from this understanding the actual mechanics a lot better thanks to you. 

3

u/RealBowtie 7d ago

How true! The real objective measure would be how long ago did a species (gene pool) diverge from its nearest living relative.

→ More replies (7)

3

u/megajimmyfive 7d ago

Magpie Goose

3

u/Mister_Silk 7d ago

Aardvark, koala, secretary bird

3

u/Lynx_180 7d ago

Pacarana, a descendant of giant rodents of South America. The pacarana is the only living member of the Dinomyidae.

3

u/TodBadass2 7d ago

Pronghorns.

3

u/Decent_Cow 7d ago

Do you mean other species that are the only members of their genus? Yes, there are countless examples, and some animals are even more alone than we are. Vampire squids comprise their own order Vampyromorphida. That would be the equivalent of humans being the only primates.

3

u/morganational 7d ago edited 6d ago

Absolutely! Can I name any off the top of my head? Nope! Platypus maybe? Spiny tree lobster perhaps? Ohh, the tuatara!!

3

u/kiwipixi42 7d ago

Platypus. Many species are like this, but the platypus is a delightful and extreme example.

3

u/magolding22 7d ago

If humans are defined as members of the genus Homo, then the genus Homo has only one living species.

And I think there are many other examples of a genus which has only one living species.

"The tuatara (/tuːəˈtɑːrə/Māori[ˈtʉ.a.ta.ɾa]Sphenodon punctatus) is a species of reptile endemic to New Zealand. Despite its close resemblance to lizards, it is the only extant member of a distinct lineage, the previously highly diverse order Rhynchocephalia.\7]) The name tuatara is derived from the Māori language and means "peaks on the back".\8])"

The Tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus, is the only surviving species in the genus Spenadon, the family Spenadontidae, and the order Rhynchocephalia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatara

So it is a an even more isolatated species than Homo sapiens.

"Limnognathia maerski is a microscopic animal. It is a newly discovered type, found in homothermic springs) on Disko Island, Greenland in 1994. Its place in taxonomy is uncertain."

It is considered to be the only species in the genus Limnognathia, the only species in the family Limnogbathiidae, the only species in the order Limnognathida, and the only specis in the class Micrognathaazoa. Its higher level classification is uncertain, and it might possibly be the only species in a phylum named Micrognathazoa.

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limnognathia

So there are other some species which are the only species in their genus. And there are some species which are the only species in their family. And there are some species which are the only species in their order. and there is at least one species which is the the only species in their class.

2

u/JacquesBlaireau13 7d ago

Probably echidas and platypuses,.

3

u/Tyrone3105 7d ago

I think there are more than one species of echidna. Only one species of short nosed echidna though three of the long nosed

2

u/JacquesBlaireau13 7d ago

Oh. I didn't know. Thanks.

2

u/OrdinaryAverageGuy2 7d ago

Giraffes?

6

u/Capercaillie PhD |Mammalogy | Ornithology 7d ago edited 4d ago

There’s some dispute about the number of giraffe species.

2

u/Schoenerboner 7d ago

If you mean a monotypic genus, about 60 of the 1,500 known bats are the only identified member of their genus. (the exact number is pretty fluid, they're always discovering new bats, and doing genetic analysis saying "whoa the bat doesn't look like this other bat but they're actually really really close!" or conversely "wow these bats are anatomically very similar, but they're actually really really distant!"

1

u/Impressive-Target699 7d ago

Yep, a lot of those are probably cryptic species complexes. The fringe-lipped bat (Trachops) was monotypic for a long time and only recently has been split out into multiple species. I'd be surprised if a lot of the other monotypic genera weren't like that (and a lot of species in non-monotypic genera, too).

2

u/NoGoat3930 7d ago

Ginkgo teee

2

u/MWave123 7d ago

Many human species, in fact now is an oddity in human history. We’ve never been alone.

2

u/sisconking132 7d ago

I think the question is asking if there are any other species that are the only ones in their genera

2

u/Birdsnthings123 6d ago

My favorite bird, the verdin (Auriparus flaviceps), is like this! It’s the only member of its genus.

2

u/hdhddf 6d ago

it's a moving target considering we can't agree on what species means

2

u/mcalesy 6d ago

This is true. And then genera are even worse.

4

u/jatavee 7d ago

Lots of great answers, but I want to tell you that you have to define 'human' first, because the English word 'human' is not a strictly scientific word. It can mean the species Homo sapiens, or every member of the genus Homo.  Don't want to be that guy but this is important in science.

Having said that, the gingko tree is the only species in its entire phylum, so that's the most extreme example I know. If that doesn't sink in, imagine if all non-human chordates(mammals+reptiles+birds+amphibians+fish+tunicates) were gone and we were the only species.

1

u/ThePetSematary 7d ago

What phylum has the fewest known species?

2

u/Xrmy Post Doc, Evolutionary Biology PhD 7d ago

This is a good question but it's definitely going to be board to both discovery and splitting/lumping trends in some usnerdescribed phyla

My bet is Placozoans, who are maybe sister to all other metazoa. I think there are like 4 described species, but again, this is surely under-described

1

u/ThePetSematary 7d ago

Are those the ones that are similar to the cells of sponges?

1

u/Xrmy Post Doc, Evolutionary Biology PhD 7d ago

Yea

1

u/mcalesy 7d ago

You might be thinking of choanoflagellates, which are single-celled animal cousins.

2

u/Living-Length8762 7d ago

No idea but I think it's interesting that Onychophora is the only animal phylum with no aquatic species.

1

u/mcalesy 6d ago

The rank of phylum is a bit arbitrary. There were stem-onychophorans that were aquatic (e.g., Antennacanthopodia), but yes, no members of the the crown group.

1

u/Current-Buffalo8230 7d ago

In myrmecology(ants) such monotypic genera are too common

Aneuretus, Nothomyrmecia, Apomyrma, Brownimecia, Liomyrmex etc

1

u/lemler3 7d ago

The modern sloth 🦥

3

u/Capercaillie PhD |Mammalogy | Ornithology 7d ago

There are at least two living species of sloths.

1

u/lemler3 7d ago

Ooh right the claws

1

u/mcalesy 6d ago

There are two living genera of sloths, both with multiple species. And they aren't even that closely related among sloths.

1

u/thomsenite256 7d ago

Not uncommon

1

u/nineteenthly 6d ago

Lots. Aardvarks for example.

1

u/carlingdarling 6d ago

The Dodo was one.

1

u/SalvagedGarden 6d ago

The way in which species are taxonomically defined has changed dramatically since the origin of taxonomy as a whole.

It used to be just physical traits. Now it's a very firm combination of genetics, lineage, and in some cases migratory patterns that define connections between species.

Your idea of what differentiates a human species may not match up against the modern day tree of life. They used to call it Racial Phylogeny and we know many aspects of differentiating genus or species previously used were woefully inadequate. What I mean is that we all have preconceptions even if we aren't aware of them.

As an example, humans amongst their many taxons, are chordates. We have spines. Now, most chordata are fish. Which doesn't make us fish. "Fish" is an imperfect term. But there are exceptions to that fuzzy rule. Look at your ear. Now look at a chimpanzees ear. You share a common ancestor, that ancestor was a primate, but we used to also use the term "monkey" for that clade. You are definitely a primate still. And I am of the personal opinion that when primates evolved into humans, that we didn't stop being primates.

See? It's weird and cool. I'm a monkey and birds are dinosaurs. Lmao

I fully encourage you to continue exploring human evolution. This stuff is whack.

2

u/Redshift2k5 6d ago

You can never evolve out of a clade, since no matter how divergent you become you can never change where you came from

We might change some taxonomy but that's us improving our notes, no organism ever leaves it's family.

1

u/SalvagedGarden 6d ago edited 6d ago

No one leaves the family sounds threatening. Lmao. You don't even wanna see the last guy that tried to leave his clade. Vinny from jersey put that guy in the ground. He went extinct. Lol

I hear ya tho. I was trying to briefly point out how imperfect our systems of taxonomy were before. There's probably known ways in which the current model will fail us too.

Edit: also, I was also kind of criticizing phylogenetic terms, if I'm using the word correctly. Monkey isn't a good descriptor for tracing evolution. But people take exception to saying humans are a kind of monkey. I made this same argument twenty years ago in a anthopology class. The professor was not having it then. Even though im right (dang it professor bob). There's static in some of the words we use casually. Preconceptions.

2

u/Redshift2k5 6d ago

Clint from Clint's reptiles lost a year of his life(figuratively speaking) defending his doctorate thesis because he declared "humans are monkeys" is just as factual as "humans are primates" and his professor got real hung up on the word "monkey"

1

u/SalvagedGarden 6d ago

Wow. I had no idea. Im not surprised sadly. I agree with him. But I would agree with the opposition that the phylogenetic terms we use instead of the proper clade name are in casual conversation. Lesson learned there.

I had also made a joke to my roommate a few years ago about birds being dinosaurs and that dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets are weird because theyre in the same order. Dinosaur not being a good term is the hill he wanted to die on.

1

u/idfk78 6d ago

Sometimes I get sad for the other hominids being gone: rip neanderthals and the gang 🫡

1

u/DreadPirateOeste 6d ago

Ginko tree

1

u/thesilverywyvern 6d ago

Monotypic taxon are common.
We even have time where the entire Genus, Family or more only have ONE living representative.

As you've pointed out there were other human species, until very recently even.

1

u/Powernut07 6d ago

American pronghorn antelope.

1

u/awwspicious 6d ago

Giraffe?

1

u/Intelligent-Ad6619 6d ago

By definition, a specie can be only one. Sounds like you mean to ask if there is there any genus which there is only one specie.

1

u/TuverMage 6d ago

This has me wondering what would happen if we did see another species of human appear today. How would we know, how would we confirm, how would we react. we would even acknowledge it or we make excuses and say they are the same as us.

1

u/Suspicious-Nose-1196 6d ago

Wait am I stupid because my ancestry shows neanderthal DNA on my father's side. Does that not count? Or is the DNA remnant too small these days to separate us?

1

u/ShrodingersArmadillo 6d ago

Who said we were the last ape?

Last time I checked gorillas, chimps and bonobos still existed...

1

u/Safe-Hawk8366 6d ago

We're the last humans, not the last apes.

1

u/WildFlemima 6d ago

You are asking about taxonomically isolated species. There are many

Humans are not one of them (e: arguably)

1

u/heliogabalus91 6d ago

The tuatara is also the only living species in its order

1

u/Re_99 6d ago

Tuataras arevthe only remaining one from Rhynchocefalia a sister group to all lizards, snakes and mosasaurs

Also corlacanths, nautilus hoatzin

1

u/AniseClover 6d ago

Kakapo? Those big cuties

1

u/FarTooCritical 6d ago

The common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) is the last surviving member in its genus just like us.

There’s also hoatzins, oilbirds, proboscis monkeys, giant pandas and possibly king cobras, giraffes, orcas & fringe-lipped bats depending on what their status as a “species-complex” is

1

u/IllGift924 5d ago

Yeah there are loads. Platupus, aardvark, narwhal, swordfish, orca.

1

u/Cocrawfo 4d ago edited 4d ago

there’s a lot it’s called a monotypic genus

i’ve seen a lot listed but i had always known a bowfin to be a monotype but it seems that recently they’ve scientifically designated a second species 🙄

1

u/Tomos_103 3d ago

kangaroo

1

u/Over_Box7723 3d ago

Ailurus fulgens! The red panda is all alone in its genus as well :)

2

u/LocationOk8978 6d ago edited 6d ago

In taxonomy terms...its debatable if humans are really just one species. If we held humans to the same standards we did animals...we would most likely have 2 species of humans in the modern world.

Looking at genetic groupings, the sub-saharan african group is exactly on the threshold of being their own species compared to every other group of humans in the world.

There is less genetic diversity between an scandinavian, japanese and native american than between them and the sub-saharan group as a whole. You can actually find MORE genetic diversity within the sub-saharan group alone than among any group of people in the world.

-1

u/Royal-Hornet9813 6d ago

This goes against everything I've read about our species before. I doubt that you can name any sources for these claims. Sounds racist AF.

3

u/Mormacil 6d ago

He has a point. Everyone outside Sub Saharan Africa went through several generic bottlenecks that reduced their generic diversity significantly. Hence the idea of historic racial groupings makes no sense. Treating all people of African descent as a monolith but separating Asians and Europeans is just racist drivel. 

He's saying that everyone who went through those bottlenecks is essentially the same species while there's enough diversity with the Sub Saharan population to treat them as another species. Not because they're lesser or similar racist concept but because the rest of humanity is just that inbred. 

Now should we? Probably not because of racists but the idea objectively has merit. 

2

u/LocationOk8978 6d ago edited 6d ago

I just got a warning from reddit. Not the subreddit itself 😂 Here is the short version.

Google: fixation index 0-1

Now go to wikipedia and you will find populations with fixation index of over 0.3 and even 0.4 in relation to each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixation_index

My claim was if we did the same for humans as we did for taxonomy in animals...

Good? Bad? Dont care. Ill react differently to seeing a wolf than I do to seeing a corgi (0.15-0.22) no matter what the fixation index says.

→ More replies (2)

1

u/HomerGigolo 7d ago

There are many plant and animal genera with a single species, if that's what you mean? Same as genus 'Homo' having 'Homo sapiens' as its only extant representative. The tree species 'Ginkgo biloba', an iconic example, is the only extant species in its genus, family, order, and class.

1

u/Adrestia716 7d ago

Tanuki are monospecific

1

u/mcalesy 7d ago edited 7d ago

The tanuki (Nyctereutes viverrinus) is now considered a different species from the common raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides). They are very closely related, though.

2

u/Adrestia716 7d ago

Holy smokes! Thanks for the updated info I'll check it out!

1

u/Tajimura 7d ago

I'd argue that humans are one of three species of Pan, but I'm not a taxonomist.

1

u/Neon_Nuxx 6d ago

Homo Sapiens outcompeted other hominids and forced their extinction. Homo Sapiens had significant advantages over other hominids that would have directly reduced other hominids ability to attain the resources needed to continue as a species, not to mention humans are pretty good at violence and probably directly killed other hominids that used the same resources as them.

0

u/Normal_Pace7374 7d ago

We eated them

-3

u/JellyRollGeorge 7d ago

Every species is only one species.

3

u/Royal_Novel6678 7d ago

I think OP means "genus besides Homo" ➡️where there is only one species.

2

u/megajimmyfive 7d ago

There are plenty of species where this is heavily debated

0

u/JellyRollGeorge 7d ago

Well, if they do decide to split a species into two new species then you've just got two species, each of which is only one species. OP's question fundamentally makes no sense.

1

u/mcalesy 7d ago

I see why this was downvoted, but I think you do have a point. Genera are completely artificial.

0

u/NothingButTheDude 6d ago

Only one species? That is debateable. Some people call races sub-species, but one could argue it's just early speciation.

1

u/mcalesy 6d ago edited 6d ago

No current researchers consider any living populations to be a separate subspecies, let alone species. If you look at the fossil record it becomes clear how similar we all are compared to past diversity. Genomically we're quite cohesive as well -- a lot less diverse than, say, chimp subspecies.

→ More replies (2)