Posted on 11/27/2024 10:40:54 AM PST by Red Badger
Like yin and yang: the tarantula's gynandromorphism can be seen with the naked eye.
Image courtesy of Fernando Pérez-Miles and Álvaro Laborda
The stunning specimen you can see above was the first documented instance of a tarantula with gynandromorphic characteristics: one side of its body is female, while the other is male.
The case first came to light in 2014 at a lab at the University of the Republic in Uruguay when a team of bug experts was observing a bunch of orange baboon tarantulas (Pterinochilus murinus) that had just molted into adulthood.
After emerging from its former exoskeleton, one individual revealed a particularly interesting appearance. Perfectly split down the middle, the right side was hairier and had slightly chunkier limbs while its left side was barer and skinnier. A closer inspection revealed that the right side of the body was female, while the left side was male.
This is known as gynandromorphism, a genetic condition in which an organism is born with both male and female characteristics. It’s been reported in a variety of different animals, from stick insects and bees to an array of birds, but this was the first time it had been scientifically documented in a Mygalomorphae tarantula.
Initially, all seemed perfectly well with the unique tarantula and the researchers noted that the individual was seemingly unaffected by its condition.
“The gynandromorphic tarantula walked and fed normally. At least, we did not perceive any difficulty in its everyday behaviors,” Fernando Pérez-Miles, study author and entomologist at the University of the Republic, told IFLScience.
However, as it aged, some problems started to arise.
“There are several peculiarities in the gynandromorph. In tarantulas, males do not continue to molt after their maturation, when their sexual organs, palpal bulbs, emerge. This is due to a morphological constriction, as the shape of the palpal bulb would make it difficult to molt those organs. However, females continue to molt after reaching maturity. The gynandromorph underwent a molt after the maturation molt, and its male sexual organ suffered a deformation,” explained Pérez-Miles.
The researchers also noted that the gynandromorph individual was vulnerable to aggression from others, although that’s perhaps not too surprising since the species is known for its feisty behavior.
“Another peculiarity was that we experimentally confronted the gynandromorph with females on four occasions; on none of these occasions did it court, nor did the females show any sexual response. In one encounter, the gynandromorph was attacked by a female, who injured one of its legs,” he added.
Despite these difficulties, the individual managed to live to a relatively normal age.
It’s not perfectly clear what causes gynandromorphism in any species, although it’s known to occur due to abnormal cell division and the segregation of the sexual chromosomes during early development.
In animals that use X and Y chromosomes to determine an individual's biological sex (females typically with XX and males typically with XY), some gynandromorphic individuals will have some cells that may carry an X chromosome from one parent, while others may have a Y chromosome from the other parent. This results in mosaicism, in which cells within the same person have a different genetic makeup.
Spiders have significantly more complex sex chromosome systems, with varying compositions of sexual chromosomes across different species. This complexity had previously led scientists to assume that gynandromorphy was extremely rare in tarantulas. However, as always, nature is full of surprising exceptions to the rule.
The case study was first reported in The Journal of Arachnology in 2017.
LOL. Comment of the day.
F itself indeed.
Oh, this proves transgenderism is natural! /sarc
Sounds like you belong at the DUmp.
Setting a child on the path of truth regarding his actual physiological sex does NOT make him any more suicidal. “Transitioning,” whether social or medical, doesn’t help penchants toward suicidality. In fact, evidence shows it often aggravates it.
Fk that bullshit fwdude.
Class of ‘98, new handle necessary.
My conserviative credentials are impecable.
Deal with another point of view.
Stop feeling threatened by reality.
Great. More bathroom drama.
You’re the farthest thing from being conservative if you even tepidly endorse transgenderism. It’s as radically LEFT as it gets.
It warps reality and reason.
Let’s try this.
From about three years old on, you daughter says she’s a boy. She want’s boy toys for Christmas.
As she grows, she wants to play with boys and do boy things.
She tells you she’s a boy and you think it is a phase.
You’re confused and seeking information. Meanwhile, she is just not interested in being a girl at all.
She doesn’t want her hair long and spends her time skateboarding and riding bikes with the boys in the neighborhood.
About 13, she tells you she is a boy and wants to be a boy, dress like a boy and style her hair like a boy and that’s final.
If you reject her, you risk losing contact with her forever.
This happens every day. It is happening right now.
What are you going to do?
Throw her off a building or accept her?
Make the call fwdude.
Yeah, I know the drill: “Do you want a dead son, or a live daughter.”
Spit!
That thing is going to nag itself to death, the female half has red hair.
Source: Happily married to an Irish girl for three decades.
No drill and not what I asked.
[spit]?
The phenomenon I discribed is real and happening all around you.
Boil it all down to this and ask yourself:
What would you do if it was your child?
...at least show some empathy for the parents who didn’t see this coming either.
I leave it there.
My policy position:
In the case of transgender girls/women (biological males who’s orientation leans toward female sensitivities) do not belong in:
Women’s bathrooms
Women’s changing rooms
Women’s locker rooms
Nor do they belong on women’s sports teams because they are biologially 30% stronger and are therefor a danger to women completitors AND this unfair advantage robs women of historic achievement and the confidence and glory that go with it.
Schools should not take any action other than providing a safe environment for children who are identifying as the opposite gender, boys or girls. Instead they should provide support to the parents who find themselve wrestling with the situation.
No child should be given hormone treatments, puberty blockers or have access to gender reassignment surgery until they reach the age of majority.
The military is no place for social experiment. You are either combat ready or you are not combat ready. That is the bar.
Has it crossed our border yet?
That’s nothing! Humans can flip back and forth at will.
YOU WIN POST OF THE DAY-——:) :)
Yes, literally. You tell it to go F itself, and it probably would do just that.
Isn’t that how Jamie Lee Curtis was supposedly born?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.