Species Identification
Definition
The determination that a seized specimen or product came from a particular species, genus, or family, using morphology, DNA barcoding, protein analysis, or a combination of methods.
- Field
- Wildlife forensics
- Methods
- Morphology, DNA barcoding, protein analysis
- Typical target
- Seized specimens or wildlife products
- Taxonomic levels
- Species, genus, or family
Common questions
Why use more than one identification method on the same seizure?+
Morphology alone often fails on processed products such as powdered horn or leather, so DNA barcoding or protein analysis is added to reach a species-level identification that morphology cannot provide on its own.
What happens when a seized product is too degraded for any single method?+
Analysts combine partial morphological cues with whatever DNA or protein signal survives processing, and report the identification at the taxonomic level the combined evidence actually supports, which may be genus rather than species.
Related terms
- INTERPOL Project Wisdom
- INTERPOL's dedicated operational programme targeting environmental and wildlife crime, coordinating intelligence and joint operations across its 190-plus member countries.
- TRACE Wildlife Forensics Network
- A UK-based NGO providing forensic identification services, training, and research for wildlife crime cases across Europe and beyond, founded in 2002.
- US NFWFL
- The National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon, established in 1989 by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The world's...
- WCCB
- Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. Statutory multi-disciplinary body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), created by the 2006 amendment...
- Wildlife Forensics
- The application of forensic science methods to the investigation of crimes involving animals, plants, and their derivatives, including species identification, geographic origin,...