3 ms·
The biological definition of species includes reproductive isolation. Two different species mean normally some kind of reproductive barriers. In this sense, if
by pvaldes 3y ago
The biological definition of species includes reproductive isolation. Two different species mean normally some kind of reproductive barriers. In this sense, if two diverging groups of animals X and Y mate and the offspring is fertile they are still in the same species and will split sometime in the future. How we define the splitting time is the problem. Neanderthals and sapiens are only partially fertile, so by definition were two different species that diluted into one. Red hair and green eyes are consider Neanderthal contributions. Modern sapiens is clearly an hybrid.
But the field has gained a lot of complexity in the last decades. There are ring species, and cryptic species, and sometimes the DNA of a parent is entirely discarded. Changing our point of view is possible with better data, except that we need to find this data first.
- fluoridation 3y agoEntirely discarded? So the child is a clone of the parent of the corresponding sex?
- civilitty 3y agoFor the most part, yes, they are clones of the mother [1] or father [2]. It gets way more complicated in some frogs though… [3] [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynogenesis https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynogenesis [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgenesis https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgenesis [3] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybridogenesis_in_water_frogs https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybridogenesis_in_water_frog...
- pvaldes 3y agoIs not usual, but can happen in some species Not necessarily a clone because sometimes happens in several steps. For example, horse x donkey hybrids are sterile in principle, but if just by chance they produce an ovule keeping only the DNA of one of their parents, it can be fecundated. A female mule can deliver a foal that is either a pure horse or a pure donkey, never another mule.