Parthenogenises....

[nouserpif]

I was wondering about parthenogenises...

When a Mourning gecko (lepidodactylus lugubris) lays eggs, it is parthenogenic because it dosn't mate, because they are all females.

But while a leopard geckos lays eggs, it has to mate to lay fertile eggs, so it isn't parthenogenic.

What about a few insects and a couple herps that can do both, like the annam stick insect? They can mate to lay eggs, but it is not nescessary, it just makes the eggs hatch faster and intoduces new blood into the family. What would this type of reproduction be called?

just wondering...
Dan Conner

[rattekonigin]

In daphnia (a small freshwater crustacean) they reproduce by parthenogenesis throughout the summer and in the fall they reproduce sexually, laying eggs that are resistant to dessication, freezing, etc...and then in the following spring/summer these hatch out and start the cycle again...this is called cyclical parthenogenesis, because they go from asexual to sexual back to asexual, and so on...I don't know what the criteria are for the stick insect to reproduce by parthenogenesis, like, does it reproduce like that when there are no males to mate with, or is there some other factor?...

Just looked it up, they (annam stick insects) would be reproducing by facultative parthenogenesis, in the absence of male fertilization.

[paul_le_snake]

not tht anyone cares, but the scientific name for daphnia is dapnia pulex......amazing what u remember from biology lessons!!!
cheers
paul

[Matt]

ya...i was gonna say facultative parth.
...and then i read rattekonigin's post, and i guess that sorta confirms it....lets go with that :)

[Them and Us]

im still in highschool and only took biology R a few years ago. so my knowledge of biology is words like mitosis,meiosis and mitochondria ha.

[nouserpif]

Well, i'm only in grade 8, and I understand all of this!! :D
Thanks for the help
lol,
Dan Conner

[Nanashi04]

I'm sure I'd get it if I took the time to read it and thought - but that requires way to much energy right right now... So I'll let it stay in Greek. :P