4 ms·
> a single Portuguese man-o’-war is composed of four or five separate animals. Sorry, no. Just because they are not physically connected to each other doesn't
by lisper 2y ago
> a single Portuguese man-o’-war is composed of four or five separate animals.
Sorry, no. Just because they are not physically connected to each other doesn't make them separate animals. They are a single animal made of parts that happen not to be physically attached to one another. This is not uncommon in nature. Colony insects like ants and bees and termites are even more extreme examples of this. An individual ant (or bee or termite) is not an organism any more than (say) your spleen is. Most ants (or bees or termites) are sterile. They cannot reproduce. It is the colony that is the organism, not the individual insect.
- wasabi991011 2y agoI'm no expert but going off of Wikipedia, I don't see the issue with the passage you quoted? The nomenclature for colonial species seems to be that even if the colony can be a single organism, the parts are still referred to as animals (e.g. "A zooid is a single animal that is part of a colonial animal.") But anyway, is there even a strict definition for what an organism is?
- lisper 2y ago> is there even a strict definition for what an organism is? I don't know how "strict" it is but the dictionary definition of "organism" is "an individual form of life, such as a bacterium, protist, fungus, plant, or animal, composed of a single cell or a complex of cells in which organelles or organs work together to carry out the various processes of life." There is no requirement that it consist of parts that are physically connected to one another.
- bmitc 2y agoIt's a bit contrarian to make up your own taxonomy. No one calls a colony of ants, humans, bees, etc. a single animal. And in all of your examples, the separate animals are nearly clones of each other, anatomically speaking. That isn't the case with the man o'war.
- lisper 2y ago> That isn't the case with the man o'war. Yes, it is: "How this happens: when a Physalia egg is fertilized, it starts dividing, like every other fertilized egg. But pretty quickly it breaks apart into two and then more distinct embryos — genetically identical, but physically separate."
- bmitc 2y agoI said anatomically.
- lisper 2y agoSorry, I saw "clone" and thought you were talking about genetics. But you're wrong about anatomy too. There is a lot of variation in morphology between different insect types in a colony. https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Caste_Terminology https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Caste_Terminology
- KineticLensman 2y ago>> There is a lot of variation in morphology between different insect types in a colony Bees in a hive change their role (e.g. nursery, house-keeping, defence, food gathering) depending on their age but all these roles have the same morphology, unlike castes in ants.
- lisper 2y agoQueens look different. But your point is well taken. I guess I should stick to ants and termites as examples.