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Thanks for your reply, glad to be educated in my limited biology knowledge :D. I think I understand your point. Evolution doesn't classify, we do. But doesn't this validate my point? Isn't the chicken vs egg question the same kind of problem made up by man like what we describe as different species? Apart from specialists there is no need for the majority of the population to classify the extinct variations of a ring species. So I assumed classification occurs vertical up to the common ancestor rather than horizontal by dying out variations of a ring species.

My original statement was simplified, maybe "evolution in conjunction with how mankind classifies species" would be more in line with the point I was making. My reasoning behind this is the following: As far as I know, the most accurate way of comparing species is by comparing genetic structure. And the point at which these genetic changes typically happen (maybe there are exceptions) is at reproduction (that's the evolution aspect of my point). This would also be the "earliest" point we could spot a difference.