Results 1 to 13 of 13
Thread: Life ... uh ... finds a way
-
2020-09-11, 04:01 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2005
- Location
- Worcestershire, UK
Life ... uh ... finds a way
-
2020-09-11, 04:20 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2014
Re: Life ... uh ... finds a way
Parthenogenesis is not unheard of in squamata reptiles. There's been evidence for about a decade now that boa constrictors can reproduce asexually. Rare, for sure, and very cool but mundane.
-
2020-09-11, 04:32 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2009
- Gender
Re: Life ... uh ... finds a way
You know, there are gifs of that picture.
Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1955
-
2020-09-11, 04:46 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2011
Re: Life ... uh ... finds a way
From the report, it seems they're not certain this really was a case of parthenogenesis. Female bats routinely store sperm while they hibernate over the winter, only going through with fertilization if their body condition at the end of winter is robust enough to support a pregnancy. Some snakes can do the same, so it's not certain yet with this individual.
That said, there's at least one lizard species (New Mexico whiptail) in which all known individuals are female, and as noted parthenogensis is well-known in lizards and snakes, as well as a wide variety of other species. And some mammals have their own very weird reproductive quirks. Life finds all kinds of ways.
-
2020-09-11, 04:51 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Gender
-
2020-09-11, 04:56 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2017
- Location
- France
- Gender
Re: Life ... uh ... finds a way
I would make a joke involving a certain raptor, but I'm not sure wether the rules would allow it, so I'm leaving it to your imaginations.
Forum Wisdom
Mage avatar by smutmulch & linklele.
-
2020-09-11, 05:28 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
- Location
- Sweden
- Gender
Re: Life ... uh ... finds a way
Black text is for sarcasm, also sincerity. You'll just have to read between the lines and infer from context like an animal
-
2020-09-11, 05:31 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Gender
Re: Life ... uh ... finds a way
If all of her descendants reproduce parthogentically they are effectively a separate species already, and very quickly will be genetically incompatible with the general python population as it deviates from her. This does happen from time to time (see several types of wasp.) I just think the idea of one off becoming your own species is neat.
-
2020-09-11, 05:34 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
- Location
- Germany
Re: Life ... uh ... finds a way
There are only so many significant mutations a pathogenetic line can acquire before something highly debilitating or fatal shows up. And without sexual reproductions, you can't separate the beneficial mutations from the harmful ones.
I think it's very likely that any such line would become nonviable long before it becomes genetically incompatible with its origin species.
Can we even define something as a species if it doesn't sexually reproduce? How are bacteria classified?We are not standing on the shoulders of giants, but on very tall tower of other dwarves.
Spriggan's Den Heroic Fantasy Roleplaying
-
2020-09-11, 05:57 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2016
Re: Life ... uh ... finds a way
This story was also in the same section of the website of one about them trying to get rid of Boa's in Florida.
One method of which being to capture a male, tag him, and then let him find the females and then get them and the eggs.
Which left me wondering that there would be quite a selection incentive for female pythons to avoid male pythons, and to favour parthenogenesis (as it already occurs) more than normal.
-
2020-09-11, 06:09 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Gender
Re: Life ... uh ... finds a way
There are currently 80 species of reptile which have become uni-sex and the pathogenic line has outlasted the sex breeding line, so this is not only possible but happens fairly frequently (ie 99.999999% of species are extinct, so there have been thousands of species that have done this.)
It's definitely less likely to be viable than breeding is.
-
2020-09-11, 08:03 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2012
- Gender
Re: Life ... uh ... finds a way
Marbled Crayfish, P. Virginalis, are parthenogenetic and are considered to be a distinct species from their closest relative, the Slough Crayfish, P. Fallax.
Very successful one too, they're an invasive species on four continents despite having no known natural populations.Sanity is nice to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
-
2020-09-12, 04:07 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
- Location
- Switzerland
- Gender
Re: Life ... uh ... finds a way
Yes, but a debilitating mutation doesn't affect the whole population. If there are, let's say, five offspring, of which one has a deadly mutation, there are still four viable ones.
And if it happens a few generations down, that one deadly mutation still has a hundred viable cousins.
It works. There's plenty of parthenogenetic species. Their problem isn't mutations, it's disease resistance.Resident Vancian Apologist