Ernst Mayr's formulation cleared up the issues which Wagner had left unresoved: "A new species develops if a population which has become isolated from its parental species acquires during this period of isolation characters which promote or guarantee isolation when the external barriers break down". The zoological taxonomist Bernhard Rensch was also significant in keeping geographical speciation on the evolutionary menu. He identified geographical separation as the most frequent initial step towards "kladogenesis" (species splitting).