If we have a species with unknown chromosome number and there are some variation in morphological characters with other species under its genus, how we know if it is a new species or not? I mean an ideal method to identify a new species.
This is one method for species identification via protein-coding and non-coding DNA Barcodes by combining machine learning with Bioinformatic methods.
I speak for olive: the ideal method is the morphological key: the phenotype: the endokarp and leaf are identity marker.
Thank you
I prefer the terms "species discovery" vs. "specimen identification" since the two sometimes get conflated when using the term "species identification". The Zhang et al paper seems to be addressing the issue of "specimen identification" rather discovery of new species. The short answer to the original question is you need to contrast your putative new species with all plausible congeners (i.e., any described species that could potentially co-occur), preferably using a suite of characters (morphology, molecular, geography, etc). Due diligence requires examining the type species of described species to verify that your putative new species hasn't been previously described.
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