Alternative views of biological species: reproductively isolated units or genotypic clusters?

Wang et al. have recently outlined their thoughts on two ideas about species: the biological species concept (BSC), and the genic view of speciation. Although both are based on reproductive isolation, the genic view, they argue, is likely preferred due to the possibility of allowing considerable gene flow among species, which is arguably what recent genomic data shows. These data, however, mostly failed to distinguish between the BSC and the genic view according to Wang et al., because it could not be ruled out that the observed introgression occurred early in speciation, when both models allow gene flow. I propose that the lack of resolution in the authors' debate is chiefly due to the difficulty of deciding when speciation is "complete" under both views tested. I agree with Wang et al. that the study of reproductive isolation is worthwhile in order to understand speciation, but I prefer to use a simpler, third criterion for speciation: the acquisition of genetic differences that allow persistence of distinguishable populations in spite of geographic overlap and the potential for continued gene flow. Under this multilocus "genotypic cluster" view, gene flow may take place at any time after species are recognized, and we do not have to decide whether gene flow is early or late in the speciation process. I detail recent genomic evidence from Anopheles mosquitoes and Heliconius butterflies showing that such "leaky" species seem to be able to coexist in spite of massive levels of introgression, often among non-sister species that show hybrid sterility in one sex.