There is so much discussion and uncertainty on species when its really very simple. We can add categories under species for more specificity but the definition of species must be objective and true. A species is any group of creatures that can reproduce and produce fertile off spring. This is a clear line that objectively determines where 1 species ends and where 1 species begins.
Now we can use another term either subspecies or breed, which can be described as a population within a species that predominantly reproduces within their subgroup. Problem solved? This allows for cases where 2 subgroups of animals can reproduce with each other but rarely do and completes the tree/pyramid of life.
You’re kind of just looking at an arbitrary resolution of life and getting hung up on categorizing.
At the end of the day, we are made up of complex chains of DNA and RNA and proteins and all of the building blocks of that came from rocks floating in space.
We know this to be true, weve found the precursors and building blocks of life in asteroid samples we’ve taken back to Earth.
Life begins way before what you consider to be a species.