Charlotte the Stingray to have a "virgin birth."

 Charlotte, who is a round stingray living at an aquarium in Hendersonville, North Carolina, went viral when it was learned that she was pregnant.  This was huge news because she's been living without a male tankmate for nearly 8 years at this point.  A rumor had gone around suggesting Charlotte had mated with one of the male sharks in the tank, but the aquarium dismissed this.  What has happened is that Charlotte has undergone parthenogenesis, a process that can occur in a few select animal species.  Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction, where offspring are produced without a male providing sperm.  In the article , one of the aquarium workers states that the offspring won't be identical clones to the mother.  The egg will have fused into a polar body that develops into an embryo.  As of today, no articles have come out confirming Charlotte has given birth to her pups.

This story is very interesting, because it brought attention to something that a lot of people don't know about it, which is parthenogenesis.  Many of my family and friends found it absolutely wild that a stingray could be pregnant without a male mate.  I was shocked reading that Charlotte's parthenogenesis was not her cloning herself, because I've been told that's exactly what parthenogenesis is.  There are apparently two forms of the process, one where the egg fuses into a polar body and develops into the embryo like in this case.  And the other case is where the gametocyte skips meiosis and undergoes mitosis, producing a genetically identical embryo to the mother.  I hope to hear about Charlotte's pregnancy going well because this may be the first recorded case of parthenogenesis in the round ray species.

Article Link: https://apnews.com/article/stingray-pregnant-charlotte-north-carolina-1da7d7ab06bf22169ef2c8e589db9cb4?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share

Parthenogenesis article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/veterinary-science-and-veterinary-medicine/parthenogenesis

California Condors Can Have 'Virgin Births' Founded by Study

 

    According to a study recently released, California condors, an endangered species, can have "Virgin Births".  Genetic testing from the researchers of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance revealed that two male chicks, hatched in 2001 and 2009 that were hatched from unfertilized eggs were closely related to their mothers, but neither was related to a male.  Researchers believe that this is the first case of asexual reproduction in avian species where the female had access to a mate, where this had only been recorded before in female birds that did not have access to a male bird.  This finding proposes questions, such as if this occurs in other birds as well, just going unnoticed.  California condors are the largest flying birds in North America, with a wing span up to 10 feet.  

    These California condors ranged from California to Florida, and also Western Canada to Northern Mexico, until around 1967, when the population decreased dramatically and the Federal Government declared the condors "endangered".   Only 23 California condors remained in the whole world by 1982, and in 1987, all of the remaining wild condors were placed into a captive breeding program to try and increase the population and escape from endangerment.  The population made a strong enough comeback that in 1992, they were starting to be released back into the wild.  This saved the species of the California condor, or else they would most likely be extinct today.  

    The species of the California Condor was saved by the government restoration tactics, and by their ability to reproduce asexually and bring more condors into the world.  

https://www.usnews.com/news/news/articles/2021-10-28/study-finds-california-condors-can-have-virgin-births

https://www.fws.gov/cno/es/calcondor/condor.cfm

South African Cape Bees are Reproducing Without Mates

The Cape Bee, a honey bee that is native to South Africa, is just like any ordinary honey bee.  Except for the fact that the female worker bees are renegades.  The Cape Bee is a small subspecies of honey bee found only in South Africa, which have the ability to self fertilize.  This would be considered a normal thing, as many insects, reptiles, and other organisms can reproduce asexually, but so far, honey bees have not been seen on this list.  This subspecies of bees is observed taking over other colonies, in a stealthy and gene induced way.

The Cape Bee females have this quality to them, that allows them to go against the rule of their own queens, and take over other hives.  This renegade action would normally be a problem, as the workers in one hive would recognize this intruder and exterminate them, but for some reason the Cape Bee is able to make it's way into the position of queen.  How it does this, is in it's genes.

The Cape Bee, while it has a very similar genome to normal honey bees, it has a few specific differences.  One of which allows for the Cape Bee to reproduce asexually.  This is done by the queen laying a pre-fertilized egg, which is created by the fusing of 2 of her eggs.  This eliminates the purpose of having a mate, which allows the new queen to parasite her way into a new hive without notice.  This is called social parasitism, and is only used by this bee because its genes let it disguise itself as a member of the same colony, while also giving it the ability to reproduce asexually.

The fact that a very small change in the genome of this bee is the only thing that allows it to completely reproduce asexually is fascinating to me.  Also that this bee's female colony members can just become the queens of other colonies just through a parasitic process is incredible.  Bees are normally very territorial and defensive against intruders, but this is the case where the impostor goes unnoticed, allowing them to take complete control of their new hive, which is pretty unique.  Knowing this though, I feel like this subspecies would be much more abundant in nature, but there must be a specific stressor that is causing these bees to spread to other hives.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/science/bees-asexual-south-africa.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Ftrilobites&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=search&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0 

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/cape_honey_bee.htm