In article ,
Mike Lyle wrote:

Note that I'm taking your word for its "mere" sub-species status on
trust: I wouldn't believe it from any old poster, as it seems
unlikely, and it's the first I've heard of it.

It hybridises readily and naturally, doesn't it? Lack of natural
inter-fertility is the usual criterion. As you should know, the
classification of such things is very much a matter of taste,
because plants have truly weird sex lives.

Again, there's been time since the last Ice Age for speciation.

Some evidence for that would make it more believable. I don't
know of a single example of a clear, natural speciation event in
higher animals or plants in that period, that wasn't the result
of an inter-species or inter-generic cross.

The same applies to several other endemic British species, like
the red grouse. I agree that we should avoid destroying them, but
we shouldn't start confusing molehills with mountains.

Have they made the red grouse back into a species again? I missed the
memo.

Miaow. Careless wording. Yes, it's probably a subspecies.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.