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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]
The New Mexico whiptail (Aspidoscelis neomexicanus) is a female-only species of lizard found in New Mexico and Arizona in the southwestern United States, and in Chihuahua in northern Mexico. It is the official state reptile of New Mexico. [2] It is one of many lizard species known to be parthenogenetic.
As such, there are over 80 species of unisex reptiles (mostly lizards but including a single snake species), amphibians and fishes in nature for which males are no longer a part of the reproductive process. [41] A female produces an ovum with a full set (two sets of genes) provided solely by the mother.
Females in many lizard species have the choice to mate with or reject males. [14] Females spend energy in investigating a male's traits in order to determine if he is healthy and has good genes. [14] In the species Side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana), males chosen by females had 76 percent less ectoparasites. [15]
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).
Occasionally, a mating between a female of one species and a male of another produces a parthenogen, a female that is able to produce viable eggs that are genetically identical to her own cells. The lizards that hatch from these eggs are thus also parthenogens that can again produce identical eggs, resulting in an asexual, clonal population.
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 ...
Cnemidophorus arubensis, commonly known as the Aruba whiptail or cododo, is a species of whiptail lizard in the genus Cnemidophorus.The female and young lizards are known as Lagadishi (English: Lizard), while the mature males are called Blòblò (English: Blue-blue). [1]