A cryptogenic species ("cryptogenic" being derived from Greek "κρυπτός", meaning hidden, and "γένεσις", meaning origin) is a species whose origins are unknown.
In ecology, a cryptogenic species is one which may be either a native species or an introduced species, clear evidence for either origin being absent. An example is the Northern Pacific seastar (Asterias amurensis) in Alaska and Canada.
In palaeontology, a cryptogenic species is one which appears in the fossil record without clear affinities to an earlier species.
Famous quotes containing the word species:
“Can it then be doubted, but that God, who is infinitely fine Spirit, and withal intelligent, can make and change all species and kind of body as he pleaseth? But I dare not say, that this is the way by which God Almighty worketh, because it is past my apprehension: yet it serves very well to demonstrate, that the omnipotence of God implieth no contradiction.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)