Some fish and some salamanders are all female until breeding comes around and then one of them, usually the oldest and/or biggest will morph into a male and serve the other females.
I think it's crocodiles where gender is determined by temperature. All the eggs in the nest do not develop at the same temp...but I forget which one becomes which.
There are even some organisms who have both sexes, or the ability to breed with any other individual they encounter. These are called "monecious". They line up next to each other and pass sperm form their male producing parts into the female producing parts of the other. This way both reproduce. It's kinda neat when you think about it. If you are an earthworm...how will you find a partner....and if you do...you have only a 50-50 chance of breeding.
The term "hermaphrodite" is used of any critter having both male and female parts. Usually these individuals are sterile, I believe.
Happy, though! No cruising singles bars, no waiting for "him" to call.
Seriously, I was hoping you'd show up Krys. I vaguely remembered other critters that reproduce in strange ways, and I knew you'd know. It's so nice to have a biology teacer around the house.
Happy, though! No cruising singles bars, no waiting for "him" to call.
No - they aren't. When these are of the human variety, they are miserable. These are those who have mixed gender issues. There are some who are born with ambiguous genitals. It takes investigation to figure out what they were "supposed" to be. There is a whole range of anomolies ranging from seemingly male genetals with some for of internal female reproductive parts to all combinations of every extreme. I often wonder if some of those seeking gender change surgery might not in some way fit into this group. Among living things it is often not A nor B as a single point...but rather a range called A and another range called B...especially in the more complex individuals like us humans.
Snails are monecious too...as are oysters.
The term Hermaphrodite is used in the Plant and Animal kingdoms. Many plants have male and female reproductive parts in the same flower (lily and tulip) and some have male and female flowers on the same plant. Many plants have male and female specimens separately (holly)
Don't let me get started, though...hee hee I have hours of lecture notes still roaming around in my brain...ya never know what will come rushing out if I unleash the dam.
The article says this is the "first case in the animal kingdom of males reproducing exclusively by cloning, although male honeybees do it occasionally".
There are many interesting ways of reproducing but this seems to be a first, in terms of discovery.
A bit more on the subject which is interesting from Nature.
Published online: 29 June 2005; | doi:10.1038/news050627-7
War of the fire ants
Jessica Ebert
Males pit their genes against females by chucking DNA out of eggs.
In a bizarre war of the sexes, little fire ants have evolved a novel way to fight for their gender's genes, according to new research.
The sperm of the male ant appears to be able to destroy the female DNA within a fertilized egg, giving birth to a male that is a clone of its father. Meanwhile the female queens make clones of themselves to carry on the royal female line.
Many insects, including most bees, wasps and ants, sexually reproduce in order to create both queens and sterile female workers. Males are created when a female egg goes unfertilized. Unlike humans, whose males require genetic input from a father, these male insects simply have less genetic material than the females.
But when Fournier and his team were studying little fire ants (Wasmannia auropunctata) in French Guiana, they found something quite different.
Lucky dip
"It is by chance that we discovered this extraordinary genetic system," says Fournier. The team had set out to investigate how colonies in human-disturbed areas, such as plantations or quarries, differ from those in undisturbed rain forests. But after collecting 34 nests and analyzing the genomes of the queens and workers, and the sperm of the males, an unusual pattern emerged. Although the sterile workers carried one maternal and one paternal set of chromosomes as expected, the queens carried only maternal genes and the males carried only paternal genes.
"There's no other genetic system that's quite like this," says Benjamin Normark, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Little fire ant queens produce two types of eggs: one that carries the full complement of maternal genes and develops without fertilization into future clones of the queen, and a second group that carries only one set of chromosomes and is fertilized with sperm from a male. Of this latter group of eggs, most develop into sterile workers. In some of the fertilized eggs, however, the maternal genes are somehow destroyed, leaving the eggs to develop into male ant clones.
Some fish and some salamanders are all female until breeding comes around and then one of them, usually the oldest and/or biggest will morph into a male and serve the other females.
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vickles
Weird, this can't be new?
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krys
There are lots of strange things found in nature.
Some fish and some salamanders are all female until breeding comes around and then one of them, usually the oldest and/or biggest will morph into a male and serve the other females.
I think it's crocodiles where gender is determined by temperature. All the eggs in the nest do not develop at the same temp...but I forget which one becomes which.
There are even some organisms who have both sexes, or the ability to breed with any other individual they encounter. These are called "monecious". They line up next to each other and pass sperm form their male producing parts into the female producing parts of the other. This way both reproduce. It's kinda neat when you think about it. If you are an earthworm...how will you find a partner....and if you do...you have only a 50-50 chance of breeding.
The term "hermaphrodite" is used of any critter having both male and female parts. Usually these individuals are sterile, I believe.
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Linda Z
Happy, though! No cruising singles bars, no waiting for "him" to call.
Seriously, I was hoping you'd show up Krys. I vaguely remembered other critters that reproduce in strange ways, and I knew you'd know. It's so nice to have a biology teacer around the house.
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krys
No - they aren't. When these are of the human variety, they are miserable. These are those who have mixed gender issues. There are some who are born with ambiguous genitals. It takes investigation to figure out what they were "supposed" to be. There is a whole range of anomolies ranging from seemingly male genetals with some for of internal female reproductive parts to all combinations of every extreme. I often wonder if some of those seeking gender change surgery might not in some way fit into this group. Among living things it is often not A nor B as a single point...but rather a range called A and another range called B...especially in the more complex individuals like us humans.
Snails are monecious too...as are oysters.
The term Hermaphrodite is used in the Plant and Animal kingdoms. Many plants have male and female reproductive parts in the same flower (lily and tulip) and some have male and female flowers on the same plant. Many plants have male and female specimens separately (holly)
Don't let me get started, though...hee hee I have hours of lecture notes still roaming around in my brain...ya never know what will come rushing out if I unleash the dam.
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Linda Z
I was just joshin'. I know human hermaphrodites aren't happy. What a confusing way to be born!
Oh go ahead, Krys. Maybe we'll learn something!
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lindyhopper
The article says this is the "first case in the animal kingdom of males reproducing exclusively by cloning, although male honeybees do it occasionally".
There are many interesting ways of reproducing but this seems to be a first, in terms of discovery.
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vickles
Let the dam break, Krys!!!! It is great info!!!
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gc
A bit more on the subject which is interesting from Nature.
Published online: 29 June 2005; | doi:10.1038/news050627-7
War of the fire ants
Jessica Ebert
Males pit their genes against females by chucking DNA out of eggs.
In a bizarre war of the sexes, little fire ants have evolved a novel way to fight for their gender's genes, according to new research.
The sperm of the male ant appears to be able to destroy the female DNA within a fertilized egg, giving birth to a male that is a clone of its father. Meanwhile the female queens make clones of themselves to carry on the royal female line.
The result is that both the males and females have their own, independent gene pools, leading some to speculate whether each gender ought to be technically classified as its own species. "We could think of the males as a separate, parasitic species that uses host eggs for its own reproduction," says Denis Fournier of the Université Libre in Brussels, Belgium, who led the work.
Many insects, including most bees, wasps and ants, sexually reproduce in order to create both queens and sterile female workers. Males are created when a female egg goes unfertilized. Unlike humans, whose males require genetic input from a father, these male insects simply have less genetic material than the females.
But when Fournier and his team were studying little fire ants (Wasmannia auropunctata) in French Guiana, they found something quite different.
Lucky dip
"It is by chance that we discovered this extraordinary genetic system," says Fournier. The team had set out to investigate how colonies in human-disturbed areas, such as plantations or quarries, differ from those in undisturbed rain forests. But after collecting 34 nests and analyzing the genomes of the queens and workers, and the sperm of the males, an unusual pattern emerged. Although the sterile workers carried one maternal and one paternal set of chromosomes as expected, the queens carried only maternal genes and the males carried only paternal genes.
"There's no other genetic system that's quite like this," says Benjamin Normark, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Little fire ant queens produce two types of eggs: one that carries the full complement of maternal genes and develops without fertilization into future clones of the queen, and a second group that carries only one set of chromosomes and is fertilized with sperm from a male. Of this latter group of eggs, most develop into sterile workers. In some of the fertilized eggs, however, the maternal genes are somehow destroyed, leaving the eggs to develop into male ant clones.
The rest of the story...
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050627/full/050627-7.htm
gc
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johniam
Nice gig.
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