Scientists for the first time discovered in boas a case of "immaculate conception" - the birth of offspring by females without the participation of males. An article describing the unusual observation appeared in the journal Biology Letters. BBC News writes briefly about the work
Reproduction without the participation of males (parthenogenesis) is known for many invertebrate species, in particular for insects. Among vertebrates, parthenogenesis was found, for example, in lizards and some fish, but this method of reproduction is extremely rare.
For the boas Boa constrictor, cases of parthenogenesis have not yet been known. The authors of the new work discovered a snake that produced 22 cubs without the participation of the father. In order to make sure that they were born parthenogenetically, scientists performed genetic analysis of them and potential fathers.
Genetic analysis has shown that children conceived without a father have a very unusual set of sex chromosomes. In snakes, the sex chromosomes are designated as W and Z. The female genome of B. constrictor contains one Z and one W chromosome, while the male genome contains two Z chromosomes. In pups born as a result of parthenogenesis, the genome contained two W chromosomes. Until now, snakes with such genetic characteristics have only been produced in the laboratory.
More recently, another team of scientists first confirmed the existence of parthenogenesis in bamboo sharks. Over the course of five years, they observed calves that were born in an "atypical" way, and did not find any abnormalities in them.