Timeline for Is it biologically possible for one species to need another species to reproduce?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
26 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 23 at 9:36 | comment | added | Falco | @UriRaz some comments and answer mention the real-life existing klepton species, which are thriving on this earth - with exactly the convoluted scenario. It seems unlikely, but it is a viable option on earth. | |
| S Dec 22, 2023 at 3:34 | history | suggested | user985366 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
correction
|
| Dec 22, 2023 at 3:10 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Dec 22, 2023 at 3:34 | |||||
| Dec 21, 2023 at 23:10 | answer | added | dsollen | timeline score: 1 | |
| Dec 21, 2023 at 19:08 | comment | added | tvanc | The Puppeteers in the Ringworld series by Larry Niven require a third being of a second species to reproduce. They euphemistically call them "wives", but they're really hosts. | |
| Dec 21, 2023 at 2:52 | answer | added | Hammond | timeline score: 1 | |
| Dec 20, 2023 at 19:45 | comment | added | AlexP | @MisterMiyagi: You have described the Ernst Mayr "biological species" concept, which is but one of several dozens of species concepts. While this concept is quite useful in zoology, not even in zoology does it apply to all species. It is not used in botany, where the reproductive separation of species is most usually gradual rather then all-or-nothing -- many plant species can hybridize with one or many other species. It is completely inapplicable to microorganisms. | |
| Dec 20, 2023 at 11:31 | comment | added | Uri Raz | Symbiosis doesn't matter. E.g. some kinds of figs require specific kinds of wasps for pollination, but the wasps only carry pollen, and the figs are homogenic, as genetically the figs breed with one another, not with the wasps. I don't see how androgenics and gynogenics species are supposed to exist with both parents contributing genetic material, and not going through a convoluted scenario, like the child being of a different species than his parents, and at least one of the parents being offspring of parents not of his/her species. | |
| Dec 20, 2023 at 7:18 | comment | added | Simon Richter | Mosquitos, to some extent. | |
| Dec 20, 2023 at 3:24 | comment | added | aroth | What @DKNguyen said. Parasites fit the description. Some have lifecycles requiring multiple intermediate species. And depending upon how loosely you want to apply the word "species", viruses may also count. | |
| Dec 19, 2023 at 23:44 | answer | added | Emilio M Bumachar | timeline score: 2 | |
| Dec 19, 2023 at 17:54 | answer | added | ng_amb | timeline score: 2 | |
| Dec 19, 2023 at 15:28 | comment | added | David R | A number of plants require specific insects or birds to pollinate the seeds. When we wipe out those insects, then the plants can't reproduce. Right now, a number of fruit trees in China are being hand pollinated because of a lack of bees. | |
| Dec 19, 2023 at 13:55 | comment | added | Wastrel | I suggest you take a look at symbiosis because nature has devised many variations on the theme of two species requiring each other. Especially interesting to you might be "obligatory symbiosis" and "mutualism". I gather that you want to be scientific about it and not produce interspecies porn. | |
| Dec 19, 2023 at 10:55 | comment | added | Falco | @MisterMiyagi "is often defined" is a simplification. There are some (frog and fish) species on earth which need another species for reproduction with distinct genetic material, which doesn't mix across the species boundary (gametes are only combined, not mixed). | |
| Dec 19, 2023 at 9:46 | comment | added | MisterMiyagi | To quote Wikipedia: "A species (pl. species) is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction." If the different species sexually reproduce as you describe, they are one species by common definition. | |
| Dec 19, 2023 at 9:23 | answer | added | fraxinus | timeline score: 2 | |
| Dec 19, 2023 at 8:21 | answer | added | Jack Aidley | timeline score: 17 | |
| Dec 19, 2023 at 5:19 | history | became hot network question | |||
| Dec 19, 2023 at 2:31 | answer | added | Robert Rapplean | timeline score: 9 | |
| Dec 19, 2023 at 1:48 | comment | added | Robert Rapplean | Just to be clear, are you specifically suggesting that copulation and impregnation happens across species? There are plenty of examples of creatures using other species as artificial wombs, or in place of the albumen of an egg. You aren't talking about that, right? | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 23:48 | comment | added | DKNguyen | Note that the way you framed your question does not rule out parasites. | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 22:21 | comment | added | AlexP | A species that requires input from another species in order to complete its reproductive cycle is called a klepton. (From Greek kleptô, I steal.) A well-known klepton species is the edible frog Pelophylax kl. esculentus (formerly known as Rana esculenta). | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 21:53 | answer | added | James K | timeline score: 32 | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 21:44 | answer | added | The Square-Cube Law | timeline score: 4 | |
| Dec 18, 2023 at 21:18 | history | asked | Rhymehouse | CC BY-SA 4.0 |