Looks different but actually the same

May 10, 2012 5:43 PM

New species or larval stage of known species?

I'm looking for an example from history of an instance when we thought two animals were different species, but they turned out upon further observation to be the same species in two different phases of its life. A possible example would be a point-in-time snapshot of a butterfly and a caterpillar, which look very different. Links appreciated, my google skills are getting me nowhere.

posted by ch1x0r to Science & Nature (6 answers total)

Until 1893, larval eels — transparent, leaflike two-inch (five cm) creatures of the open ocean — were considered a separate species, Leptocephalus brevirostris...
posted by TedW at 5:46 PM on May 10, 2012

The good old Triceratops.
posted by sanka at 6:50 PM on May 10, 2012 [1 favorite]

Jack Horner gives a highly entertaining TED talk about the Triceratops, and several other dinosaurs that turned out to be the same species.
posted by TungstenChef at 11:04 PM on May 10, 2012

Eclectus parrots have sexually dimorphic plumage where girls are red/violet with black beaks and boys are green with orange beaks, and were once thought to be two species.

It's not a life-stage difference, but it's pretty cool.
posted by Sallyfur at 1:12 AM on May 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Auguste Dumeril may have had this problem in 1863 with axolotls and salamanders.
posted by Segundus at 3:03 AM on May 11, 2012

Many (most?) larval aquatic insects have not been linked between adults and larval stages.

This is particularly true among the chironomids, which are the non-biting flies that fly around your head when you are by a stream.
posted by rockindata at 4:25 AM on May 11, 2012