Fig.1) Left: Anolis bimaculatus male (high) and A. leachii male (beneath) for comparability. Proper: grownup male A. leachii x A. bimaculatus hybrid.
Everyone knows examples of interspecific hybrids in animals such because the Liger, the Zhorse or the Calico Chuckwalla and even intergeneric hybrids in vegetation equivalent to orchids. Even inside Anolis, there are well-known examples of interspecific hybrids equivalent to Anolis aenus x Anolis trinitatis on Trinidad.
I used to be in a position to produce fertile hybrids of various members of the bimaculatus group in my breeding facility which I need to present you on this publish.
I’m a personal reptile keeper and breeder and have been working with Lesser Antillean Anolis, primarily within the sense of conserving and breeding, for 20 years. About three years in the past, good friend of mine advised me his A. oculatus and A. terraealtae, which he stored collectively in a small greenhouse, had interbred and produced offspring. This was wonderful to me, as I assumed they have been genetically too far aside. Shortly after that, out of curiosity and curiosity, I paired up some totally different species of my assortment with the goal to provide hybrids. I used to be whether it is doable to interbreed them usually, and in addition I wished to see what the hybrids would appear to be. So in 2020, I paired up …
1) a male A. marmoratus marmoratus with a feminine A. ferreus
2) a male A. leachii with a feminine A. bimaculatus
In each circumstances, I used a big grownup male and a younger grownup feminine that was raised single and had by no means been with every other Anolis earlier than. I launched the feminine into the male‘s enclosure and in each circumstances the male began courting the feminine instantly and mated together with her. After the copulation, I separated the feminine once more and picked up the eggs over the course oft he subsequent months. Lengthy story brief: I used to be in a position to acquire viable hybrids, increase a few of them to maturity, paired this F1 technology once more and produce viable F2 hybrids.
To explain the hybrids, I might say that they’re usually very a lot intermediate in dimension and coloration concerning their father or mother species, each in women and men. However simply take a look at a number of the outcomes (above and beneath):
Fig.2) Left: Anolis bimaculatus feminine (high) and A. leachii feminine (beneath) for comparability. Proper: grownup feminine A. leachii x A. bimaculatus hybrid.
Fig.3) Left: Anolis marmoratus marmoratus male (high) and A. ferreus male (beneath) for comparability. Proper: grownup male A. m. marmoratus x A. ferreus hybrid.
Now, I’ve some ideas about this. We all know that genomes diverge in isolation till the accrued variations lead to “speciation“ and/or reproductive isolation, as it’s the case with the Anolis within the Lesser Antilles. With the usage of molecular clocks such because the cytochrome b mitochondrial gene and geological dates, we will measure the genetic distance and estimate the timespan of separation of those taxa and challenge their phylogenetic relationships.
However how genetically distant or how lengthy or over what number of generations do two species must be remoted to be genetically incompatible within the sense of not solely being acknowledged as separate species by us, but in addition not with the ability to reproduce? Might Anolis be used as a mannequin group for a query like that usually? Which might be probably the most distantly associated Anolis species that may have the ability to reproduce? Is there any particular pairing that might be of particular curiosity?
Brief disclaimer: Not one of the hybrids will return into nature. They dwell a wholesome and fulfilled captive life like every other captive Anolis. They’re simply effective and wholesome. Please don’t blame me for this challenge.
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