Making it on their own: sperm-dependent hybrid fishes (Cobitis) switch the sexual hosts and expand beyond the ranges of their original sperm donors.

ABSTRACT: Interspecific hybridization may result in asexual hybrid lineages that reproduce via parthenogenesis. Contrary to true parthenogens, sperm-dependent asexuals (gynogens and hybridogens) are restricted to the range of bisexual species, generally the parental taxa, by their need for a sperm donor. It has been documented that asexual lineages may rarely use sperm from a non-parental species or even switch a host. The available literature reports do not allow distinguishing, between whether such host switches arise by the expansion of asexuals out of their parental's range (and into that of another's) or by the local extinction of a parental population followed by a host switch. The present study combines new and previously collected data on the distribution and history of gynogenetic spined lo

SUBMITTER: Choleva L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2606746 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature