Posted by rpcman on May 19, 1998 at 14:01:12:
In Reply to: Species of Finches posted by Carlos on May 19, 1998 at 13:30:04:
However, many of these "species" do occasionally cross-breed, creating hybrids (some successful, some not).
By "some successful" do you mean that some of the hybrids can reproduce while the others are sterile?
Since they can interbreed (even if they don't normally do so), I'm not sure that they fall under the strict definition of "species".
I think they would still be distinct species of the same genus (if they didn't normally reproduce and if the product when they do is frequently sterile).