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New Phylum Created After New Creature Discovered
dmatos writes "Scientists have found a completely new type of life in a well in Greenland. It doesn't fit into any existing phylum, so they were forced to create a new phylum for them. It's a 0.1mm long freshwater organism which reproduces by parthogenesis."
In water that cold, of course there are no males.
Normally, an egg contains a haploid (half) set of chromosomes. The sperm provides the other half. In parthenogenesis, the egg contains a full (diploid) set of chromosomes and develops just as if it had been a fertilized egg. It means that all of the daughters are genetically identical to the mother except for random mutations.
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How can jaws be complex?
They didn't describe them in detail in the article. They could have multiple mandibles or multiple joints. Plus, these creatures are tiny. Small creaturs usually have simple jaws if they have jaws at all.
How does an unfertilized egg reproduce?
See above. The egg has a diploid set of chromosomes, not the usual haplid set.
Why, if these were discovered six years ago, is this just being announced now?
Scientists usually like to study things for a while before announcing results. It probably took a while to determine that they were all female and were able to reproduce without males. Six years isn't too long to do a thorough job.
Why are they keeping a colony consisting of females? If they can reproduce on their own, what are males for?
There aren't any males. They are all females. Scary, eh?
Why does none of this make sense? Does anyone know any of these answers?
Nope, no one has a clue.
"The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is also stranger than we can imagine." Sorry, I don't know who said it.
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First it's named Greenland in hopes of attracting settlers, then they name one of the islands Disco island! What a vacation that would be - you're all set for a week of fun in the lushness of Greenland on the party island of Disco, and when you get there you realize that it's 40 below and taken over by worms 0.1 mm long with complex jaws!
Talk about false advertising!
UBU
- Kingdom
- Phylum
- Class
- Order
- Family
- Genus
- Species
I just looked that up.. I was pretty close, but forgot Class. So you're correct in that phylum!=family. Big time.Mr. Ska
It does happen. I would nominate the proteins responsible for BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy). It isn't life by the traditional definition, but it multiplies and causes disease.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
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