why 'lo' in 'como pueden serlo dos especies'

Question

Hi, I am trying to figure out in -- ambas tortugas son tan genéticamente distintas como pueden serlo dos especies -- what the lo is referring to. The entire sentence is "Según el Parque Nacional Galápagos, el minucioso análisis genético ha revelado que en realidad ambas tortugas son tan genéticamente distintas como pueden serlo dos especies que viven separadas una de la otra, cada una en una isla propia."

Many thanks to the forum.

Answer 1

The lo here refers to the entire idea of the last clause, dos especies que viven separadas una de la otra, cada una en una isla propia.

It would have been less confusing if the author had used some kind of punctuation between lo and dos. The sentence could have been simply written without lo, but in this case the nuance would be emphasis on mostly "dos especies" rather than the whole last clause.

I think that the sentence cannot be written without "lo". It is neceesary to keep the sense of the sentence - txustaboy, Nov 3, 2015

Answer 2

Thanks JulianChivi. Great explanation and I think I got a better understanding of the sentence now.

So, I guess I would translate "en realidad ambas tortugas son tan genéticamente distintas como pueden serlo dos especies que viven separadas una de la otra, cada una en una isla propia." as "in reality both tortoises are as genetically distinct as two species that are living separated from one another can be"

Yes. - annierats, Nov 3, 2015