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The asexual, all-female whiptail species Aspidoscelis neomexicanus (center), which reproduces via parthenogenesis, is shown flanked by two sexual species having males, A. inornatus (left) and A. tigris (right), which naturally hybridized to form A. neomexicanus.
Reproduction occurs through parthenogenesis, with up to four unfertilized eggs being laid in mid summer, and hatching approximately eight weeks later. The New Mexico whiptail lizard is a crossbreed of a western whiptail, which lives in the desert, and the little striped whiptail, which favors grasslands. The whiptail engages in mating behavior ...
Parthenogenesis has been studied extensively in the New Mexico whiptail in the genus Aspidoscelis of which 15 species reproduce exclusively by parthenogenesis. These lizards live in the dry and sometimes harsh climate of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.
Parthenogenesis is a mode of asexual reproduction in which offspring are produced by females without the genetic contribution of a male. Among all the sexual vertebrates, the only examples of true parthenogenesis, in which all-female populations reproduce without the involvement of males, are found in squamate reptiles (snakes and lizards). [1]
Several species of whiptail lizards are entirely female and no males are known. [3] These all-female species reproduce by obligate parthenogenesis (obligate, because the lizards do not involve males and cannot reproduce sexually).
The desert grassland whiptail lizard (Aspidoscelis uniparens) is an all-female species of reptiles in North America. It was formerly placed in the genus Cnemidophorus. A common predator of the whiptail lizard is the leopard lizard that preys on A. uniparens by using ambush and stalk hunting tactics. [2] [3] [4] These reptiles reproduce by ...
In some of the Cnemidophorus species, there are no males, and they reproduce through parthenogenesis. This is well known in bees and aphids , but is very rare in vertebrates . Those species without males are now known to originate through hybridization , or interspecific breeding.
Desert grassland whiptail lizard females reproduce by obligate parthenogenesis. In obligate parthenogenesis, females only reproduce asexually. [20] One example of this is the desert grassland whiptail lizard, a hybrid of two other species. Typically hybrids are infertile but through parthenogenesis this species has been able to develop stable ...