New animal species evolving from a hybrid discovered in North America
- From: "rmacfarl" <rmacfarl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 29 Jul 2005 02:03:36 -0700
Slightly OT, but...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050727/sc_afp/scienceanimalshybrid_050727205428
New animal species evolving from a hybrid discovered in North America
Wed Jul 27, 4:54 PM ET
PARIS (AFP) - Two animal species can interbreed and evolve into a new
species by moving to a different habitat, US researchers have concluded
after discovering a genetically distinct fruit fly in North America.
In a study led by Dietmar Schwarz of Pennsylvania State University,
they found that two animal species can become one, as opposed to the
more common mechanism in which a single species splits to form two,
they report in Thursday's issue of Nature, the weekly British
scientific journal.
The formation of a new species through hybridization is known to occur
in plants, but researchers had previously doubted that the same
phenomenon could happen in animals, because hybrid offspring are less
likely to survive and reproduce than pure-breds.
The new fruit fly species had recently switched its food source to a
non-native honeysuckle plant in the northeastern United States, the
Lonicera, which is thought to have come to North America in the last
250 years from Asia.
The Lonicera attracted a variety of fruit fly species that cross-bred
to create hybrids.
Schwarz's team found that an initial population of hybrids went on to
become a species in its own right.
They named the new insect the Lonicera fly after the host plant.
.
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