Interspecies mating and animal classification

[leroyjenkens]

I just read about how coyotes and dogs can interbreed, and their offspring can also breed. I thought one of the classifications of species was that two different species could either not breed together, or their offspring would be infertile. Dogs are of the species canis lupus, and coyotes are of the species canis latrans; different species, yet they're able to create fertile offspring. So was I misinformed about the distinction between different species? Thanks.

 

[Monique]

They both belong to the species or genus Canis, the lupus/latrans are specific names. But I must say I'm not a true biologist, I never studied this subject. That being said, within Canis there are some examples of classes that cannot interbreed, it depends on the chromosomal architecture.

 

[OmCheeto]

I just read about how coyotes and dogs can interbreed, and their offspring can also breed. I thought one of the classifications of species was that two different species could either not breed together, or their offspring would be infertile. Dogs are of the species canis lupus, and coyotes are of the species canis latrans; different species, yet they're able to create fertile offspring. So was I misinformed about the distinction between different species? Thanks.

Here, let me google that for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_problem

Just as Pluto was recently demoted, I'm sure "species" will one day be redefined, and ixnay this current problem.

-------------------
Ha ha! Pluto...
Sometimes, humour, just happens.

 

[jim mcnamara]

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) has driven geneticists nuts for years.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2907199/

Is one study that shows what is now termed a subgenome exists for varying populations and individuals within a population of switchgrass. Meaning they interbreed. And you can have extant populations that are a polyploid mishmash.

The problem is that these plants appear to be one species, but genetically they are a biologists nightmare (or challenge). Just because choromsome numbers vary does not mean members of a population are not really a single species in the sense the OP posted. At least for some plants.

IMO this means that what we use to define a species is not a perfect match for what sometimes happens.

Plus the a lot of species in genus Canis appear to play the "switchgrass game": hybrids are fertile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canid_hybrid

Also note: domestic dogs are new, circa 33000 years max, and are considered subsepecies of Canis lupus, the gray wolf. They have not been on "their own" genetically all that long and have not evolved isolation - probably because of human intervention.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog

This whole area is "fuzzy" enough to say - "it is still an arf-ful mess". (sorry)

 

[Gannet]

Environmental Change forces Cross-species coupling

http://www.onearth.org/article/grolar-bears-and-narlugas-rise-of-the-arctic-hybrids

In 2006 an American hunter shot an animal in the far north of Canada’s Northwest Territories that shared characteristics of a polar bear and a grizzly. Earlier this year, a similar bear was killed less than 200 miles away, and DNA tests confirmed it was a mixture of the two species. The "grolar bear" thus joined a growing list of cross-species couplings -- beluga whales and narwhals, right whales and bowhead whales, various seal mixtures -- all confirmed to varying degrees by scientists in the Arctic over the past two decades.
...
In their Nature article, Kelly, Whiteley, and Tallmon list 34 potential hybridizations between discrete populations, species, and genera of marine mammals in the Arctic and near-Arctic.
...
What’s different about the Arctic is that melting ice is erasing a continent-size geographic barrier between isolated species. That kind of thing usually happens gradually, over geologic time; now it’s happening over a matter of decades.

The following link is to list of Arctic Mammals with the potential for hybridization
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v468/n7326/extref/468891a-s1.pdf