A compilospecies is a genetically aggressive species which acquires the heredities of a closely related
diploid or polyploid, as well as sexual or primarily asexual.[1] The term compilospecies derives from the Latin word compilo, which means to seize, to collect, to rob or to plunder.[1] A proposed explanation for the existence of such a species with weak reproductive barriers and frequent introgression is that it allows for genetic variation. An increase in the gene pool through viable hybrids can facilitate new phenotypes and the colonisation of novel habitats.[3][4] The concept of compilospecies is not frequent in scientific literature and may not be fully regarded by the biological community as a true evolutionary concept, especially due to low supporting evidence.[2][5]
History
Bothriochloa bladhii (Bothriochloa intermedia), an example of a compilospecies
Compilospecies were first described by Harlan and de Wet in 1962, who examined a wide range of grasses and other species such as
cytogenetic model of these as a basis for the compilospecies concept.[1][6] Species within these genera exhibit both sexual and asexual reproduction, high heterozygosity, ploidies from 2x to 6x, and gene flow between bordering populations as evidence of ongoing introgression.[1][6] However, this gene flow is only made possible in the presence of B. intermedia, which introgression moves towards, and the absence of which keeps the other species reproductively isolated.[1][7]
B. intermedia is identified as the compilospecies in this model.
Further examples
Other researched examples of compilospecies include;
