Relict species: From past to future

Dictionaries define a relict as something that has survived, usually as a trace, from the past. In biology, relicts are distinctive populations or species that typically are small in size or severely restricted in geographic range. Biologists distinguish between taxonomic and biogeographic relicts. Taxonomic relicts are a few or sole survivors of a once diverse taxonomic assemblage, whereas biogeographic relicts are descendants of once widespread taxa (or populations) that now have a narrow geographic distribution (Lomolino et al. 2006). Both categories sometimes coincide, as for example in the case of living fossils (such as ginko, lungfishes, crossopterygians, or marsupials) that closely resemble their ancient ancestors in overall phenotype (Futuyma 2005; Lomolino et al. 2006; Beierkuhnlein 2007). In the following, we focus on biogeographic relicts.