What happens when a species is the only of its kind? This phenomenon is called a monospecific taxon. Studying these special species can help us better understand not just those sparse groups, but all life on this planet! Join Olivia Gordon for this fun new episode of SciShow!
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Sources:
Homo sapiens
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13621
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4630
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01660.x
https://humanorigins.si.edu/human-characteristics/brains
https://theconversation.com/were-other-humans-the-first-victims-of-the-sixth-mass-extinction-126638
Welwitschia mirabilis
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27064484/
https://doi.org/10.1086/374189
https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1537-2197.1977.tb11936.x
https://doi.org/10.5642/aliso.20123001.05
https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.2039
https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026512608982
https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.92.8.1294
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012088457-5/50026-5
https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcl078
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2006.01625.x
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2009/12/how-angiosperms-took-over-world
Amborella trichopoda
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1241089
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26290578/
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1246275
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1248709
Sphenodon punctatus
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.10.049
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-009-9952-7
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15751188/
https://doi.org/10.1080/08927014.1997.9522875
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24132307/
Orycteropus afer
https://doi.org/10.1038/npg.els.0001578
https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=29792000
Limnognathia maerski
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199606023.001.0001
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-0031.2004.00004.x
https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-4687(200010)246:1%3C1::AID-JMOR1%3E3.0.CO;2-D
Ginkgo biloba
https://doi.org/10.5558/tfc68612-5
https://doi.org/10.1663/0006-8101(2007)73[267:TPOSRI]2.0.CO;2
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13742-016-0154-1
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37045-8_3
https://e360.yale.edu/features/peter_crane_history_of_ginkgo_earths_oldest_tree
Images:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Neanderthal_child.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%9A%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA_(1).jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Welwitschia_mirabilis(2).jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Welwitschia_at_Huntington_Library,_Art_Collections_and_Botanical_Gardens.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Welwitschia_mirabilis0425.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Welwitschia_mirabilis_(female).jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amborella_trichopoda_1.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amborella_trichopoda_6.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amborella_trichopoda_(3173820625).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SphenodonSkull.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Limnognathia_wikipedia.jpg