Yes, too far gone for the ping list, but not for a couple of annoying questions, if Ichneumon will oblige...?
1. Has anyone thought to follow up with studies (even retrospective reviews) of the rate of speciation between say, the starfish, cactus, etc., and similarly-environmentally-placed compatriots which do sexually reproduce?
2. Speaking of cacti, why then do saguaro have flowers? Is there a list of which cacti are asexual and which are not; and what point did their DNA diverge...?
3. (Boring pointless analogy here...if whales' progenitors were once land mammals, and returned to the sea, were the forbears of the current crop of asexual multicellular, macroscopic organisms all asexual too, or was there an similar "retrograde" motion? "Not this millenium, we all have headaches!" )
Sorry, can't think of any puns.
Cheers!