Cryptogenic species

A cryptogenic species ("cryptogenic" being derived from Greek "κρυπτός", meaning hidden, and "γένεσις", meaning origin) is a species whose origins are unknown.

In ecology, a cryptogenic species is one which may be either a native species or an introduced species, clear evidence for either origin being absent.^[1] An example is the Northern Pacific seastar (Asterias amurensis) in Alaska and Canada.^[2]

In palaeontology, a cryptogenic species is one which appears in the fossil record without clear affinities to an earlier species.

See also

• Cosmopolitan distribution

References

1. ^ Alan Burdick (2006). Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 233. ISBN 0374530432. 
2. ^ NIMPIS Database

Further reading

• James T. Carlton (1996). "Biological invasions and cryptogenic species". Ecology (Ecological Society of America) 77 (6): 1653–1655. doi:10.2307/2265767. JSTOR 2265767. 
• G. J. Inglis, B. J. Hayden, and W. A. Nelson (2006). "Are the Marine Biotas of Island Ecosystems More Vulnerable to Invasion?". In Rob Allen. Biological invasions in New Zealand. Springer. pp. 122–124. ISBN 3540300228.