Abstract
The natural origin of diploid parthenogenesis in whiptail lizards has been through interspecific hybridization. Genomes of the parthenogens indicate that they originated in one generation, as the lizards clone the F1 hybrid state. In addition, hybridization between diploid parthenogens and males of bisexual species has resulted in triploid parthenogenetic clones in nature. Consequently, the genus Aspidoscelis contains numerous gonochoristic (= bisexual) species and numerous unisexual species whose closest relatives are bisexual, and from whom they originated through instantaneous sympatric speciation and an abrupt and dramatic switch in reproductive biology.
Highlights
IntroductionWhiptail lizards of the genera Aspidoscelis and Cnemidophorus are of special interest because they include both unisexual (all-female) species and bisexual species (gonochoristic; with separate sexes)
Whiptail lizards of the genera Aspidoscelis and Cnemidophorus are of special interest because they include both unisexual species and bisexual species
The present paper focuses on the laboratory hybrids of two bisexual species, A. inornata arizonae (♀) × A. tigris marmorata (♂)
Summary
Whiptail lizards of the genera Aspidoscelis and Cnemidophorus are of special interest because they include both unisexual (all-female) species and bisexual species (gonochoristic; with separate sexes). The unisexual species normally reproduce by means of parthenogenetic cloning, in the complete absence of spermatozoa. This phenomenon is known to occur as the normal mode of reproduction for certain squamate reptiles but no other vertebrates (e.g., Hardy and Cole, 1981; Hardy et al, 1989; Dessauer and Cole, 1986). Origin of the species was not a result of the typical historical splitting of an ancestral lineage into two derived forms in allopatry.
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