Several items have come to my attention on why properly identifying and treating species has practical effects:
Correctly identifying the bugs that have laid eggs and matured on corpses will give time of death, but only if the right species are identified.
Misidentifying two species of skate as one back in the 1920s has meant that overfishing of one of them leaves it near extinction. [Watch out: there is a Flash movie on this page that may leave your computer unresponsive. I just had to reboot my Mac, which never happens.]
The U.N. has finally admitted that overgrowth of one particular species has caused global warming, and that the solution is to manage its population levels.
How ironic, skates and stingrays rays are quite different animals (different orders).
Thanks for that. I fixed it.