Literature Review: Putting Limits on the Diversity of Life

»	ISCID Forums » General » Literature Review » Putting Limits on the Diversity of Life (Page 3)

This topic is comprised of pages: 1 2 3

Author

Topic: Putting Limits on the Diversity of Life

Argon
Member
Member # 276

posted 10. May 2004 22:12

Fernando writes:
"I refer here to the exchange of nucleic acids amongst bacteria only.

A. tumefaciens produces tumors in plants.

So?
A. tumefaciens transfers DNA to plants which can later be propagated in plant "progeny". That's horizontal transfer.

I do not understand the distinction being made. You say that if bacteria exchange DNA (which typically represents a tiny fraction of the genome at a time), then that is just sex between the same "species". But when DNA is exchanged between different species of which one partner may be a eukaryote, then that is just "pathology". Well, how do you know that genetic exchange between bacterial species isn't like "pathology" as well? After all, why do you think bacteria maintain rather specific DNA methylation and restriction endonuclease systems that cleave "foreign" DNA? Basically, bacterial "sex" across different species of bacteria does not involve an equal sharing of genetic material; it is actually more like an infection. It is because bacterial lineages maintain a cohesive and coherent set of core sequences and functions that we can assign them to groupings of species.

What I am saying is that the "biological species concept" that depends on mating as a diagnostic of a species really applies poorly to organisms such as bacteria that propagate primarily through clonal division and whose mechanisms of genetic exchange are quite different. I suggest that rather than trying to force all forms of life into the same classification scheme, which was known from the start to work poorly for a large number of organisms, you might want to investigate exactly what it is you are trying to classify. There is literally a hundred years of literature on bacterial classification. One might start reading papers by Carl Woese.

Fernando writes:
"Also I refer here to cells that naturally have mitochondria and that in some way may be artificially eliminated.

It is not granted any speculative linear descent."

I am sorry Fernando, but I just do not understand what you mean.

Recall your original question:

quote:
Without mitochondria (or chloroplasts) since the very beginning, how could those cells have been able to work in any way? I.E., has somebody done experiments excluding every mitochondria of a cell to see how, if... can the cell survive?

First, there exist examples of living organisms that have lost their mitochondria and yet can still survive. The "petite" mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast) provide a example that is often cited in introductory microbiology and genetics textbooks. Also, there are living eukaryotes that are known to lack mitochondria in their native ("wild type") form. Basically, having mitochondria is not absolutely essential for all eukaryotes.

IP: Logged

Fernando Castro-Chavez
Member
Member # 1201

posted 10. May 2004 23:14

Putting Limits on the Diversity of Life
(Part Five)

Species-Specific Molecules:

Molecules present in one 'True Species' but absent in the rest. Molecules present in a 'Family' of organisms with high similarities but absent in others.

These 'Species-Specific Molecules' can be seen as a product of Intelligent Design, as these are not present in any other organism, discarding a continuous and gradual evolutionary way of transmission of genetic material, enforcing the discontinuous, non-linear origin of the genomic organization of living beings. I.E., a discontinuous presence of genes, regulatory sequences, RNAs, proteins, etc. specific for humans, not present in any other living organism.

This piece of evidence, together with other species-specific patterns and the sudden appearance of life before and after 'The Great Impact', and the lack of gradualism in the fossil record or in the living beings clearly depicts Intelligent Design and disproves a spontaneous generation of life in an oceanic 'soup' 'evolving' until the 'completion' of all living beings, as the total number of 'True Species' has been determined beforehand. "Everything is Determined", claimed Albert Einstein.

However, even after such compelling evidences, ‘evolutionary thinking’ in science still hinges on gradualism through millennia to try to accommodate an implausible explanation for such phenomena (or to grant their 'official' publications. Links below).

The facts remain the same, the 'official' interpretation of them is the only thing that differs from the actual cumulative evidence.

(See 'The Great Impact')

Some Links:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12604796

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15014171

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12620392

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12612342

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11731936

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14585506

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10583945&dopt=Abstract

//////////////////

Argon:

"In nature, Agrobacterium tumefaciens invades a plant and infects it with crown gall disease. When using the bacterium to genetically modify plants, scientists remove the disease-causing parts of Agrobacterium's DNA and replace them with genes carrying the characteristics scientists want transferred to the plant."

http://www.uoguelph.ca/news/alumnus/backissues/Spring00/10.html

We need to discern the sharp difference between the human 'Genetic Engineering' and the natural processes.

-----------

"Berger & Yaffe (1998) observed a 40 % reduction in lifespan forpetite mutants. Kirchman et al. (1999) also reported a reduced lifespan for several petite mutants."

"Lifespan analysis of respiratory-deficient yeast suggests that the impact of petite mutations on longevity may be strain specific (Kirchman et al., 1999)." I.E. the strain "YPK9".

http://www.socgenmicrobiol.org.uk/MIC/146/1023/1461023A.PDF

AND

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1046/j.1474-9728.2002.00018.x/abs

We are starting to learn of unicellular organisms that can be aerobic or anaerobic, like many bacteria. My observation is directed to cells coordinately working inside an organism. Your suggestions are worthy of a deeper analysis, thank you again.

[ 11. May 2004, 17:32: Message edited by: Fernando Castro-Chavez ]

IP: Logged

Argon
Member
Member # 276

posted 12. May 2004 21:59

Fernando writes:
"We need to discern the sharp difference between the human 'Genetic Engineering' and the natural processes."

In a small percentage of infections with the wild-type varieties of A. tumefaciens, some of the plasmid-borne, disease-inducing genes are already mutated and rendered naturally non-pathogenic. That is, the mutant Ti-plasmid is still capable of integration into the host DNA but not capable of furthering infection. These are, in essence, duds that can get "stuck" in the genome of transduced plants. This "natural" genetic engineering is similar to phage-mediated transduction in which the defective packaging of phage DNA (or, the packaging of defective phage DNA), occasionally results in horizontal transfer instead of pathogenesis. We humans carry a number of phage remnants as well.

Here is a URL to a 1999 PNAS article which documents a likely horizontal transfer event between Agrobacterium rhizogenes and a species of Nicotiana:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=23930

Fernando writes:
We are starting to learn of unicellular organisms that can be aerobic or anaerobic, like many bacteria. My observation is directed to cells coordinately working inside an organism.

Yeast can grow both aerobically and anaerobically: The anaerobic processes of some yeasts were harnessed by humans millenia ago to produce alcohol.

Regarding the observation: The endosymbiotic theory for the origin of mitochondria does not propose that the original, endosymbiotic event happened in a multicellular organism, but instead with a unicellular organism.

[ 12. May 2004, 22:00: Message edited by: Argon ]

IP: Logged

Fernando Castro-Chavez
Member
Member # 1201

posted 13. May 2004 18:44

Argon:

Thank you for the link.

The specific new things that we are just starting to learn regarding amitochondrial unicellular organisms is that they have a mitosome:

Tovar J, Fischer A, Clark CG. The mitosome, a novel organelle related to mitochondria in the amitochondrial parasite Entamoeba histolytica. Mol Microbiol. 1999

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10361303

More of such organisms still being discovered:

O'Kelly CJ, Silberman JD, Amaral Zettler LA, Nerad TA, Sogin ML. Monopylocystis visvesvarai n. gen., n. sp. and Sawyeria marylandensis n. gen., n. sp.: two new amitochondrial heterolobosean amoebae from anoxic environments.
Protist. 2003 Jul;154(2):281-90

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=13677454

As well as other of their peculiar characteristic:

Chose O, Noel C, Gerbod D, Brenner C, Viscogliosi E, Roseto A. A form of cell death with some features resembling apoptosis in the amitochondrial unicellular organism Trichomonas vaginalis. Exp Cell Res. 2002

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11978006

Mariante RM, Guimaraes CA, Linden R, Benchimol M. Hydrogen peroxide induces caspase activation and programmed cell death in the amitochondrial Tritrichomonas foetus. Histochem Cell Biol. 2003 Aug;120(2):129-41

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12844218

etc...

IP: Logged

Argon
Member
Member # 276

posted 13. May 2004 21:30

Fernando writes:
"The specific new things that we are just starting to learn regarding amitochondrial unicellular organisms is that they have a mitosome"

Yes, some do, but some might not. It does appear that the amitochondrial state is a derived condition (a result of reduction) in the organisms studied so far. The root of the eukaryotic "tree" appears very closely linked with the acquisition of mitochondria. (This is distinct from plastid origins which appear to be later events).

IP: Logged

Fernando Castro-Chavez
Member
Member # 1201

posted 18. May 2004 17:47

Putting Limits on the Diversity of Life
(Part 2.2)

The Great Dying

Becker L, Poreda RJ, Basu AR, Pope KO, Harrison TM, Nicholson C, Iasky R. Bedout: A Possible End-Permian Impact Crater Offshore of Northwestern Australia.
Science. 2004 May 13 [Epub ahead of print]

"The Bedout High located on the northwestern continental margin of Australia... Seismic imaging, gravity data and the identification of melt rocks and impact breccias from drill cores located on top of Bedout are consistent with the presence of a buried impact crater. The impact breccias contain nearly pure silica glass (SiO2), fractured and shock-melted plagioclases and spherulitic glass. The distribution of glass and shocked minerals over hundreds of meters of drill core implies that a melt sheet is present. Available gravity and seismic data suggest that the Bedout High represents the central uplift of a crater similar in size to Chicxulub."

Comment of Luann Becker (first author):

"We think that mass extinctions may be defined by catastrophes like impact and volcanism occurring synchronously in time... this is what happened... at Chicxulub but was largely dismissed by scientists as merely a coincidence... I don't think we can call such catastrophes occurring together a coincidence anymore."

http://newsfromrussia.com/science/2004/05/14/53905.html

Other links:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/28jan_extinction.htm

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4969840

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3077507

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3223708.stm

http://www.astrobio.net/news/article697.html

http://beckeraustralia.crustal.ucsb.edu

http://www.astronomy.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/001/732wbrhh.asp

//////////////

Putting Limits on the Diversity of Life
(Part 3.2)

We need the map for life to understand life itself and its history.

Both, the Universe and its Revealed map proceed from the same Author.

I agree completely with the original Biblical record.

////////////////////

More facts related to it can be seen next:

1-
Cichlid species in Lake Victoria are extremely variable, displaying 500 color morphs... in recent years, human activity has caused the water of Lake Victoria to become cloudy. In these areas, the cichlids can't differentiate between species. In these cloudy areas, bright color morphs have disappeared and the fish have become similar and dull in appearance through hybridization (Seehausen et al. 1997).

http://www.cichlidae.com/articles/a110.html
+++++++++
2-
Cichlids in Africa "produce viable, fertile hybrids":

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11298988

Turner GF, Seehausen O, Knight ME, Allender CJ, Robinson RL. How many species of cichlid fishes are there in African lakes? Mol Ecol. 2001 Mar;10(3):793-806.

[Here again, there is one true species with limitless varieties, with limitless sub-species]
+++++++++
3-
Porpoises: Dall's porpoises (Phocoenoides dalli) and harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) can conceive offspring. According to Baird et al (1998) many individuals with intermediate pigmentation have been observed, indicating that such offspring may be viable:

"Atypically-pigmented porpoises (usually traveling with and behaving like Dall's porpoise) are regularly observed in the area around southern Vancouver Island. We suggest these abnormally-pigmented animals, as well as the previously noted fetus from California, may also represent hybridization events."

http://www.dal.ca/~whitelab/rwb/hybrid.htm [Abstract and full article in PDF]
+++++++++
4-
Dolphin and false killer whale: There has been one case of a female bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and a male false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) producing a fertile female hybrid, called a wholphin. She went on to breed with a dolphin and produced a daughter: In 1985, in the Hawaii’s Sea Life Park. Since the offspring in this case are fertile these two genera are really, by definition, a single polytypic biological species [Other members in the group (12 living 'genera') are much more alike than the two that produced the offspring in Hawaii]

http://hotspotshawaii.com/Wolphin.html

Pictures:
http://www2.hawaii.edu/HIMB/Education/Marina&Carrie&Wholphin.jpg

http://www2.hawaii.edu/HIMB/Education/Kristine&Mark&Wholphin.jpg
+++++++++
5-
The Great Whales [fin whale x blue whale]:

Spilliaert R, Vikingsson G, Arnason U, Palsdottir A, Sigurjonsson J, Arnason A. Species hybridization between a female blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) and a male fin whale (B. physalus): molecular and morphological documentation. J Hered. 1991 Jul-Aug;82(4):269-74.

"In 1986 a large, pregnant, female balaenopterid whale was caught in Icelandic waters. The animal had morphological characteristics of both the blue and the fin whale. Molecular analyses of the whale showed that it was a hybrid between a female blue whale and a male fin whale. The descent of the species hybrid was established without access to either parental specimen. Analysis of the fetus showed that it had a blue whale father. The present report of species hybridization between the two largest cetacean species, the blue and the fin whale, documents the occurrence of cetacean species hybridization in the wild. It is also the first example of any cetacean hybridization giving rise to a fertile offspring."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1679066

--------

Arnason U, Spilliaert R, Palsdottir A, Arnason A. Molecular identification of hybrids between the two largest whale species, the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) and the fin whale (B. physalus). Hereditas. 1991;115(2):183-9.

"Three anomalous balaenopterid whales, one pregnant female and two sterile males, were investigated by applying molecular approaches in order to establish their identity. The analysis showed that the whales were species hybrids between the blue and the fin whales. The female and one of the males had a blue whale mother and a fin whale father. The other male had a fin whale mother and a blue whale father."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1687408

--------

Berube et al. Population genetic structure of North Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea and Sea of Cortez fin whales, Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus 1758): analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear loci.
Mol Ecol. 1998 May;7(5):585-99.

"[Recurrent] gene flow between adjacent populations"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9633102

Palsboll PJ, Berube M, Aguilar A, Notarbartolo-Di-Sciara G, Nielsen R. Discerning between recurrent gene flow and recent divergence under a finite-site mutation model applied to North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) populations. Evolution Int J Org Evolution. 2004 Mar;58(3):670-5.

"Intensive commercial shore-based whaling during the 1920s removed substantial numbers of fin whales in the Strait of Gibraltar and this local population has seemingly since failed to recover."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15119452

--------

Page 236-237, National Audubon Society "Guide to Marine Mammals of the World", 2002, Knopf, 528 p.
"Blue Whales are known to occasionally hybridize with Fin Whales, and unlikely as it would seem given the considerable differences in size and morphology between the two species, there is one well-documented report of a Humpback--Blue Whale hybrid from the South Pacific."

http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2002Nov/msg00217.html

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375411410/102-6048677-3273719

--------

The Humpback/Fin hybrid surprises me more, considering the mating rituals and accompanying singing that Humpbacks engage in. But it confirms that Humpbacks are Rorquels, albiet aberrant forms.

http://www.cmnh.org/dinoarch/2002Nov/msg00174.html
+++++++++
6-
Grampus griseus (risso's dolphin) x Tursiops truncatus (bottlenose dolphin), intermediate characters suggest hybridization

Taken from: Gray AP, Mammalian Hybrids, 1972, Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Farnham Royal, Bucks, England. Book database by 'genus': http://www.bryancore.org/hdb/index.html
+++++++++
7-
Bobcat and lynx: Bobcats (Lynx rufus) and lynxes (Lynx canadensis) can cross; several such crosses have happened naturally in the wild.

http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/main/pa/newsclips/03_06/0604_canadalynx.html

Minnesota bobcat-lynx crosses (in PDF): http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/endspp/lynx/Q&As%20final.pdf
+++++++++
8-
Raise a baby male zebra finch with a Bengalese mother finch, and the zebra finch will grow up to ignore female zebra finches but devotedly court Bengalese finches (Bischof 1994).

http://www.ratbehavior.org/Hybridization.htm
+++++++++
9-
A new variety of snake, product of a cross between an albino corn snake (Elaphe guttata) and an albino king snake (Lampropeltis triangulum) in a reptile park in Bakersfield, California and belongs to David Jolly, Manager of the Information Department, AiG (USA). Apparently it is fertile.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/magazines/docs/v22n3_liger.asp

Corn snakes are one of the most popular pet snakes in North America, and snake fanciers have bred all sorts of colour variations:

http://members.aol.com/guttata319/Hawkherp/morfs.html
+++++++++
10-
The male 'cama':
Veterinarians in the United Arab Emirates successfully cross-bred a camel and a llama: The ‘cama’ has the cloven hooves of a llama and the short ears and tail of a camel. The scientists hope to combine the best qualities of both into the one animal — the superior fleece and calmer temperament of the llama with the larger size of the camel.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/magazines/docs/v22n3_liger.asp

http://www.cnn.com/EARTH/9801/20/cama.ap

--------

"Skidmore said they won't know whether Rama can reproduce until he reaches puberty in about 18 months to two years... may live 20 or even 30 years if all goes well, and when fully grown should weigh midway between a llama's average weight of 75 kilos and a camel's 450 kilos."

http://www.datadubai.com/cama1.htm

http://www.datadubai.com/cama2.htm

"A third camel-llama cross, the second male, born January of '03":

http://www.taylorllamas.com/Camel-LamaCrossPhotos.html

---------
The female 'cama':
"Like a mule or hinny, the hybrid between a horse and donkey, she is likely to be sterile... born after 343 days which is within the typical gestation period for the llama (335-360 days), but is much shorter than the camel's (385-395 days)... weighed only 5kg at birth. This is less than a newborn llama which weighs around 10kg and much less than a newborn camel at 30kg. It is a striking illustration of how the size of the mother controls the size of the newborn, irrespective of the size of the father... It seems that it is easier for the female llama to conceive from camel semen than for the female camel to conceive from llama semen."

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=43065
+++++++++
11-

" Lama glama, the llama; Lama pacos, the alpaca; Lama guanico, the Guanaco; and Vicugna vicugna, the Vicuna. They will interbreed and do produce fertile hybrids."

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/other/other-w.htm

http://www.fungus.org.uk/camelids.htm

"The Incas domesticated the guanaco to produce the llama and the vicuna to produce the alpaca. All four of these New World camelids can readily be made to hybridise with each other."

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=43065

http://www.taylorllamas.com/Camel-LamaCrossPhotos.html

“Llamas, guanacos, alpacas and vicunas can interbreed and should therefore be pastured separately.”

http://www.llama-llocater.com/llama_facts.html
+++++++++
12-
Bactrian Camel x Dromedary Camels

"The Bactrian and Dromedary Camels can interbreed. The resulting offspring has a single, elongated hump that extends the length of its back.

http://www.exoticdeer.org/blaschke2b.htm

Arabian camel x Bactrian camel:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/pubs/camels.htm
+++++++++
13-
Ibex x goats:

There are several different species of ibex -- Alpine (or European), Nubian (or Arabian), Siberian (or Asiatic) and walia (or Abyssinian). In Texas, the most common "ibex" is the Iranian ibex, which is not a true ibex, although they are closely related enough to allow interbreeding. A cousin species is the Spanish ibex, which, like the Iranian and the "true" ibex species, can interbreed with domestic and wild goats. Hybrids are quite common, and some crosses have become well-enough established to earn the designation of "Texas ibex."

http://www.exoticdeer.org/blaschke2b.htm
+++++++++
14-
The Plains zebras are also sub-species (Grants x Damaraland cross). The difference is in their striping pattern and range. They can interbreed and have fertile offspring.

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/2905/zebxing.html

Zebra born without the stripes in Nairobi, Kenya

Veterinarians have yet to determine the gender of the baby zebra but have determined that it is about 4 weeks old. The purebred zebra is also apparently fitting in with its black and white herd and can be seen hopping and prancing around. Experts do not plan to take the zebra away from its mom or the herd but plan to study it as it grows up.

Stripeless Zebra Puzzles Experts:

http://www.local6.com/news/2999935/detail.html
+++++++++
15-
The American and European bison can interbreed and produce fertile offspring, they have clear differences in their physical characteristics, and geographical separation for a long time.

http://www.csew.com/cattletag/Cattle%20Website/Fact_Sheets/American_Bison/American_Bison.htm
+++++++++
16-
Guinea pigs (Hamsters, 'cobayos'):
Cavia cutleri m x Cavia porcellus, fertile viable F1 hybrids.
Cavia fulgida x Cavia porcellus, sterile viable F1 hybrids, however, Detlefsen reports fertile hybrids in the wild.

Taken from: Gray AP, Mammalian Hybrids, 1972, Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Farnham Royal, Bucks, England. Book database by 'genus': http://www.bryancore.org/hdb/index.html
+++++++++
17-
Northeastern coyotes, product of hybridization between Canadian wolves and Western coyotes:

http://www.wildlifetech.com/pages/necoyote.htm
+++++++++
18-
Red wolves:

Reich DE, Wayne RK, Goldstein DB. Genetic evidence for a recent origin by hybridization of red wolves. Mol Ecol. 1999 Jan;8(1):139-44:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9919703

Also "red wolf/coyote hybrid litters were born":

http://www.geocities.com/kanamist/Redwolf.html

"Deforestation and loss of habitat allowed coyotes to move eastward and began to interbreed with the red wolf":

http://www.wolfhowl.org/info
+++++++++
19-
Canis familiaris x Vulpes bengalensis (a fox), vixen kept as pet mated with Alsatian x Bull Terrier dog.
Canis familiaris x Vulpes fulva. Hybrids reported.
Canis familiaris x Vulpes vulpes, one F1 may have been conceived.
Canis familiaris dingo x Vulpes vulpes, hybrids have been reported.

Taken from: Gray AP, Mammalian Hybrids, 1972, Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Farnham Royal, Bucks, England. Book database by 'genus': http://www.bryancore.org/hdb/index.html
+++++++++
20-
Wild red foxes x silver foxes:

Prasolova LA, Trut LN, Vsevolodov EB, Latypov IF. Morphology of hair pigmentation in wild red foxes, silver foxes, and their hybrids. Genetika. 2002 Apr;38(4):463-7.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12018162

Vulpes fulva x Vulpes vulpes, believed fertile.
Alopex lagopus x Vulpes vulpes. Reciprocal crosses are possible, often literature makes no distinction between V. vulpes and V. fulva.
Alopex lagopus x Vulpes fulva, reciprocal crosses have occurred, some sterile others fertile, backcrosses have also occurred. One hybrid had 43 chromosomes compared to 34 for vulpes and 52 for Alopex, through artificial insemination.

Taken from: Gray AP, Mammalian Hybrids, 1972, Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Farnham Royal, Bucks, England. Book database by 'genus': http://www.bryancore.org/hdb/index.html
+++++++++
21-
Hieracium:

Morgan-Richards M, Trewick SA, Chapman HM, Krahulcova A. Interspecific hybridization among Hieracium species in New Zealand: evidence from flow cytometry. Heredity. 2004 May 12

"the majority of field hybrids were pentaploid with a genome size equivalent to four H. pilosella and one H. praealtum haploid chromosome sets. We infer that these are not first-generation hybrids but represent successful backcrossing with H. pilosella and/or hybrid-hybrid crossing, and that sexual tetraploid hybrids have been the parents... our data indicate the emergence of sexual hybrids that provide further opportunity for gene flow among taxa in this complex."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15138450
+++++++++
22-
Banksia:
Lamont BB, He T, Enright NJ, Krauss SL, Miller BP. Anthropogenic disturbance promotes hybridization between Banksia species by altering their biology. J Evol Biol. 2003 Jul;16(4):551-7.

"Putative hybrids between Banksia hookeriana and B. prionotes were identified among 12 of 106 populations of B. hookeriana located at or near anthropogenically disturbed sites, mainly roadways, but none in 156 undisturbed populations... By promoting earlier flowering of B. hookeriana plants and prolonging flowering of B. prionotes, anthropogenic disturbance broke the phenological barrier between these two species. We conclude that anthropogenic disturbance promotes hybridization through increasing opportunities for gene flow by reducing interpopulation separation, increasing gamete production and, especially, promoting coflowering."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14632219
+++++++++
23-
Tilia:
Fromm M, Hattemer HH. Inheritance of allozymes and hybridization in two European Tilia species. Heredity. 2003 Sep;91(3):337-44.

"Zymograms of 10 spontaneous T. cordata x T. platyphyllos hybrids showed markedly different banding patterns with species-specific alleles at 13 of the 14 described gene loci. Hence, differentiation between both species and their naturally occurring hybrid (T. x europaea) is easily feasible with allozyme studies."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12939637
+++++++++
24-
Drosophila:
Garbuz D, Evgenev MB, Feder ME, Zatsepina OG. Evolution of thermotolerance and the heat-shock response: evidence from inter/intraspecific comparison and interspecific hybridization in the virilis species group of Drosophila. I. Thermal phenotype. J Exp Biol. 2003 Jul;206(Pt 14):2399-408.

"Because D. virilis and D. lummei can readily be crossed to yield partially fertile progeny, genetic analysis of interspecific differences is possible. Interspecific hybrids are intermediate to the parental species in basal thermotolerance and inducible thermotolerance and resemble D. virilis in Hsp concentrations after intense heat shock and Hsp70 protein electromorphs."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12796457

----------

David J, Lemeunier F, Tsacas L, Bocquet C. Hybridization of a new species, Drosophila mauritiana, with D. melanogaster and D. simulans. Ann Genet. 1974 Dec;17(4):235-41. No abstract available.
+++++++++
25-
In Saccharomyces, "Mating experiments show that there are no barriers to interspecific conjugation of haploid cells":

de Barros Lopes M, Bellon JR, Shirley NJ, Ganter PF. Evidence for multiple interspecific hybridization in Saccharomyces sensu stricto species. FEMS Yeast Res. 2002 Jan;1(4):323-31.

"Fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis demonstrates a high level of gene exchange between Saccharomyces sensu stricto species, with some strains having undergone multiple interspecific hybridization events with subsequent changes in genome complexity. Two lager strains were shown to be hybrids between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the alloploid species Saccharomyces pastorianus. The genome structure of CBS 380(T), the type strain of Saccharomyces bayanus, is also consistent with S. pastorianus gene transfer. The results indicate that the cider yeast, CID1, possesses nuclear DNA from three separate species. Mating experiments show that there are no barriers to interspecific conjugation of haploid cells. Furthermore, the allopolyploid strains were able to undergo further hybridizations with other Saccharomyces sensu stricto yeasts. These results demonstrate that introgression between the Saccharomyces sensu stricto species is likely.'

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12702336
+++++++++
26-
Xiphophorus (Teleostei: Poeciliidae) fish:
Li HY, Savage T, Obermoeller RD, Kazianis S, Walter RB. Parental 5-methylcytosine methylation patterns are stable upon inter-species hybridization of Xiphophorus (Teleostei: Poeciliidae) fish.
Comp Biochem Physiol B Biochem Mol Biol. 2002 Dec;133(4):581-95.

"Through F(1) inter-species hybridization and succeeding meiosises leading to first generation (BC(1)) and second generation (BC(2)) backcross hybrid progeny, we demonstrate that parental species methylation patterns are stable."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12470821
+++++++++
27-
Ground squirrels (spermophilus: Rodentia, Sciuridae):
Ermakov OA, Surin VL, Titov SV, Tagiev AF, Luk'ianenko AV, Formozov NA. Study of hybridization in four species of ground squirrels (spermophilus: Rodentia, Sciuridae) by molecular genetic methods. Genetika. 2002 Jul;38(7):950-64.

"Four species of ground squirrel--yellow (Spermophilus fulvus), russet (S. major), small (S. pygmaeus), and spotted (S. suslicus)--occur in the Volga region. Between S. major and S. pigmaeus, S. major and S. fulvus, and S. major and S. suslicus, sporadic hybridization was reported... 43% of S. major individuals had "alien" mitotypes typical of S. fulvus and S. pygmaeus... Phenotypic hybrids S. fulvus x S. major and S. major x S. pygmaeus) were reliably identified using RAPD-PCR of nuclear DNA."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12174588
+++++++++
28-
Corals (the Acropora group):
Van Oppen MJ, Willis BL, Van Rheede T, Miller DJ. Spawning times, reproductive compatibilities and genetic structuring in the Acropora aspera group: evidence for natural hybridization and semi-permeable species boundaries in corals. Mol Ecol. 2002 Aug;11(8):1363-76.

"The breeding trials showed that reproductive compatibility exists between at least some colonies of all the species pairs tested (A. millepora, A. papillare, A. pulchra and A. spathulata), suggesting a large potential for natural hybridization and introgression... observation of A. aspera xA. pulchra F1 hybrids, identified based on additivity of ITS sequences."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12144658
+++++++++
29-
Carabid beetles Carabus:
Sota T, Ishikawa R, Ujiie M, Kusumoto F, Vogler AP. Extensive trans-species mitochondrial polymorphisms in the carabid beetles Carabus subgenus Ohomopterus caused by repeated introgressive hybridization. Mol Ecol. 2001 Dec;10(12):2833-47.

"C. insulicola… can hybridize naturally with at least two... Recent one-way introgression of mitochondria from C. arrowianus nakamurai to C. insulicola, and from C. insulicola to C. esakii, was inferred from the frequency of identical sequences between these species and from direct evidence of hybridization in their contact zones. Other intraspecific polymorphisms in the four species may be due to undetected introgressive hybridization (e.g. C. insulicola to C. maiyasanus)...This beetle group has a genital lock-and-key system, with species-specific or subspecies-specific genital morphology that may act as a barrier to hybridization. However, our results demonstrate that introgressive hybridization has occurred multiple times, at least for mitochondria, despite differences among, and stability within, morphological characters that distinguish local populations."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11903896
+++++++++
30-
Macaques:
Evans BJ, Supriatna J, Melnick DJ. Hybridization and population genetics of two macaque species in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Evolution Int J Org Evolution. 2001 Aug;55(8):1686-702.

"Hybridization is the interbreeding of individuals from different parental taxa that are distinguishable by one or more heritable characteristics. Because hybridization can affect population structure of the parental taxa, it is an important consideration for conservation management. On the Indonesian island of Sulawesi an explosive diversification of macaques has occurred; seven of 19 species in the genus Macaca live on this island. The contact zone of the subjects of this study, M. maura and M. tonkeana, is located at the base of the southwestern peninsula of Sulawesi... currently two species of Sulawesi macaque, one of which is M. maura, are classified as endangered species... introgression between M. maura and M. tonkeana is restricted to the hybrid zone..."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11580028
+++++++++
31-
Butterflies (Parnassius, Lepidoptera, Papilionidae):
Zakharov EV. The demonstration of natural hybridization between two swallowtail species Parnassius nomion and Parnassius bremeri (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae) using RAPD-PCR technique. Genetika. 2001 Apr;37(4):475-84.

"Genetic evidence for interspecific hybridization between Parnassius nomion and Parnassius bremeri in nature is presented... the interspecific hybrids were intermediate with regard to the parental species. Ecological and biological characteristics of two swallowtail species that promote their hybridization in nature are discussed."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11421120

-------------

Deschamps-Cottin M, Aubert J, Barascud B, Descimon H. Hybridization and introgression between "full-fledged species". The case of Parnassius apollo and P. phoebus. C R Acad Sci III. 2000 Mar;323(3):327-37.

"Two butterfly species living in the Alps, Parnassius apollo and P. phoebus, frequently hybridize in certain localities of this region... male hybrids are fecund and thus that interspecific gene exchange could take place via backcrosses with the parent species... hybridization can involve both sexes of both species... female hybrids are not sterile."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10782337
+++++++++
32-
Typha:
Kuehn MM, Minor JE, White BN. An examination of hybridization between the cattail species typha latifolia and typha angustifolia using random amplified polymorphic DNA and chloroplast DNA markers. Mol Ecol. 1999 Dec;8(12):1981-90.

"Typha glauca represents a significant portion of the biomass of the wetlands surrounding the Great Lakes, USA. It is generally accepted to be a form of hybrid between T. latifolia and T. angustifolia, which itself appears to be an exotic introduction from Europe... our results suggest that hybridization between the native and introduced Typha species has impacted the native population through the spread of the F1 hybrid, T. glauca."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10632850
+++++++++
33-
Vanilla:
Nielsen LR, Siegismund HR. Interspecific differentiation and hybridization in vanilla species (Orchidaceae). Heredity. 1999 Nov;83 (Pt 5):560-7.

"...at localities... species coexist. This suggests that the species may hybridize."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10620028
+++++++++
34-
Rhododendron:
Milne RI, Abbott RJ, Wolff K, Chamberlain DF. Hybridization among sympatric species of Rhododendron (Ericaceae) in Turkey: morphological and molecular evidence. Am J Bot. 1999 Dec;86(12):1776-1785.

"Rhododendron (Ericaceae) is a large genus in which barriers to hybridization are especially weak... Hybridization among four species of Rhododendron subsect. Pontica, which occur in sympatry in Turkey, was investigated. Material of R. ponticum, R. smirnovii, R. ungernii, and R. caucasicum and their putative hybrids was collected from the wild... Rhododendron ponticum x R. smirnovii was represented by a single individual and R. caucasicum x R. smirnovii by one small group of hybrid plants. The combinations R. ponticum x R. ungernii and R. ungernii x R. smirnovii showed evidence of frequent backcrossing, while R. ponticum x R. caucasicum appeared unusual in that an intermediate hybrid type was abundant, whereas hybrids with phenotypes approaching either parent were rare... The results suggest that natural hybridization among Rhododendron species is common..."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10602769
+++++++++
35-
Fritillaria:
Wang Z. Preliminary studies on intervarietal and interspecific hybridization breeding methods of Fritillaria thunbergii Miq. and its kindred species. Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi. 1991 Jun;16(6):332-4, 381-2.

"Intervarietal F1 hybrids of Fritiliaria thunbergii and interspecific F1 hybrids between F. thunbergii and its kindred species were successfully obtained. The methods of breaking the dormancy of F1 seeds and F1 bulbs were investigated. Moreover, the temperature off-season generational advance was preliminarily grouped."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1786092
+++++++++
36-
Sunfish (Lepomis):
Avise JC, Saunders NC. Hybridization and introgression among species of sunfish (Lepomis): analysis by mitochondrial DNA and allozyme markers. Genetics. 1984 Sep;108(1):237-55.

"…interspecific hybrids, all of which appeared to be F1's... the involvement of five sympatric Lepomis species in the production of these hybrids... a tendency for hybridizations to take place preferentially between parental species differing greatly in abundance... a tendency for the rare species in a hybrid cross to provide the female parent."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=6090268

----------

The same observation appears in a Review:

Wirtz P. Mother species-father species: unidirectional hybridization in animals with female choice. Anim Behav. 1999 Jul;58(1):1-12.

"Hybrid matings are usually between the females of a rare species and the males of a common species, but not vice versa."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10413535
+++++++++
37-
Slider:
Big Bend Slider (Trachemys gaigeae)

Common. Rio Grande floodplain only. Sloughs, ponds, and rivers with muddy bottoms and aquatic vegetation. Have been found to interbreed with the introduced Red-eared Slider. This poses a threat to the genetic integrity of the Big Bend Slider. Diurnal and nocturnal.

Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)

Rare but increasing. NON-NATIVE. Common in the beaver pond at Rio Grande Village and along certain sections of the Rio Grande. Introduced to the area and poses a threat to the genetic integrity of the Big Bend Slider, as they have been found to interbreed. Aquatic; primarily diurnal.

http://www.nps.gov/bibe/reptilechecklist.htm

////////////////

Older articles with no Abstract:

38-
Microtus:
Gileva EA, Bol'shakov VN, Polyavina OV, Cheprakov MI. The vole species Microtus arvalis and Microtus rossiaemeridionalis in the Urals: hybridization in the wild. Dokl Biol Sci. 2000 Jan-Feb;370(1-6):47-50. No abstract available.
+++++++++
39-
Simulium:
Boakye DA, Mosha FW. Natural hybridization between Simulium sanctipauli and S. sirbanum, two sibling species of the S. damnosum complex. Med Vet Entomol. 1988 Oct;2(4):397-9. No abstract available.
+++++++++
40-
Ducks:
Deray A. Effects of hybridization on ovary and ovulatory activity in adult hybrid ducks resulting from a cross between Peking males (Anas platyrhynchos) and Muscovy females (Cairina moschata). Comparison with female parent species. Arch Anat Microsc Morphol Exp. 1974 Oct-Dec;63(4):375-95. No abstract available.
+++++++++
41-
Snails:
Barbosa FS. Possible competitive displacement and evidence of hybridization between two Brazilian species of planorbid snails. Malacologia. 1973;14(1-2):401-8. No abstract available.
+++++++++
42-
Ticks:
Oliver JH Jr, Wilkinson PR, Kohls GM. Observations on hybridization of three species of North American Dermacentor ticks. J Parasitol. 1972 Apr;58(2):380-4. No abstract available.
+++++++++
43-
Nematodes (Cooperia):
Isenstein RS. Hybridization of two species of nematodes parasitic in ruminants, Cooperia oncophora (Railliet, 1898) Ransom, 1907, and Cooperia pectinata Ransom, 1907. J Parasitol. 1971 Apr;57(2):320-6. No abstract available.
+++++++++
44-
Gorman GC, Atkins L. Natural hybridization between two sibling species of Anolis lizards: chromosome cytology. Science. 1968 Mar 22;159(821):1358-60. No abstract available.
+++++++++
45-
Podcherniaeva RIa, Sokolov MI, Ratushkina LS. Further studies on the intra-species hybridization of influenza A viruses. Vopr Virusol. 1968 Mar-Apr;13(2):209-12. Russian. No abstract available.
+++++++++
46-
Lacerta:
Darevskii IS, Kulikova VN. Natural triploidy in a polymorphous group of lacerta saxicola eversmann as a consequence of hybridization of bisexual and parthenogenic varieties of this species. Dokl Akad Nauk SSSR. 1964 Sep 1;158:202-5. No abstract available.
+++++++++
47-
Genus Gedoelstia? (Diptera: Oestridae):
Basson PA, Zumpt F, Bauristhene E. Is there a species hybridization in the Genus Gedoelstia? (Diptera: Oestridae). Z Parasitenkd. 1963 Oct 29;23:348-53. No abstract available.
+++++++++
48-
Bacteria:
Baron LS, Spilman WM, Carey WF. Hybridization of Salmonella species by mating with Escherichia coli. Science. 1959 Sep 4;130:566-7. No abstract available.
+++++++++

And more examples:

49-
Brassica:
“Cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels' sprouts, broccoli and knoll-kohl are taxonomic varieties of the same species Brassica oleracea. Grown in the proximity of each other and unattended, these crops freely interbreed and lose their identity in a few generations, because they are not reproductively isolated from each other”

http://www.ipmvenki.com/mboard_mainframe.htm
+++++++++
50-
Hyalodaphnia:
Schwenk K, Posada D, Hebert PD. Molecular systematics of European Hyalodaphnia: the role of contemporary hybridization in ancient species. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2000 Sep 22;267(1455):1833-42.

"Many species of the Hyalodaphnia are known to hybridize in nature"

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11052533
+++++++++
51-
Treefrogs (Genus hyla):
Mable BK, Bogart JP. Hybridization between tetraploid and diploid species of treefrogs (Genus hyla). J Hered. 1995 Nov-Dec;86(6):432-40

"First generation hybrids between a H. versicolor female from Canada (4n = 48) and a H. arborea male from France (2n = 24) were all triploid and appeared to contain two sets of chromosomes from H. versicolor and one set from H. arborea. Males and females were produced in equal numbers but testes in general were more completely developed than ovaries... preferential pairing of chromosomes and gene regulatory biases may help to explain factors that relate to the ability of tetraploids to hybridize with even distantly related taxa and may be involved in the rediploidization process that usually follows polyploidization."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8568210
+++++++++
52-
Toads:
Pfennig KS, Simovich MA. Differential selection to avoid hybridization in two toad species. Evolution Int J Org Evolution. 2002 Sep;56(9):1840-8.

"We examined both the frequency and fitness effects of hybridization between plains spadefoot toads (Spea bombifrons) and New Mexico spadefoot toads (S. multiplicata). Hybridization was most frequent in smaller breeding ponds that tend to be ephemeral, and heterospecific pairs consisted almost entirely of S. bombifrons females and S. multiplicata males... hybrid offspring from crosses in which S. bombifrons was maternal outperformed pure S. bombifrons offspring by reaching metamorphosis faster."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12389729
+++++++++
53-
Sunflower (Helianthus):
Faure N, Serieys H, Cazaux E, Kaan F, Berville A. Partial hybridization in wide crosses between cultivated sunflower and the perennial Helianthus species H. mollis and H. orgyalis. Ann Bot (Lond). 2002 Jan;89(1):31-9.

"To obtain introgressed sunflower lines with improved disease resistance, interspecific crosses were performed with foreign perennial species... Phenotypes were predominantly similar to the female when cultivated sunflower was the female parent. Progeny from crosses using a wild species as the female parent resembled that parent. Thus, reciprocal crosses led to different progeny. F1 sister progeny shared different sets of molecular markers representing a few of those of the wild species used as the pollen donor. Our results indicate mechanisms leading to the unusual event of partial hybridization."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12096817
+++++++++
54-
Aedes:
Taylor DB. Hybridization of Aedes (protomacleaya) zoosophus with Ae. (Pro.) triseriatus group species: hybrid morphology. J Am Mosq Control Assoc. 1988 Mar;4(1):23-8.

"Morphology of hybrids between Aedes (Protomacleaya) zoosophus and Ae. (Pro.) triseriatus group species is described. Aedes brelandi/Ae. zoosophus hybrids are similar to Ae. hendersoni/Ae. zoosophus hybrids."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=2903902
+++++++++
55-
Ipomopsis (Polemoniaceae):
Wolf PG, Campbell DR, Waser NM, Sipes SD, Toler TR, Archibald JK. Tests of pre- and postpollination barriers to hybridization between sympatric species of Ipomopsis (Polemoniaceae). Am J Bot. 2001 Feb;88(2):213-219.
"The Ipomopsis aggregata species complex (Polemoniaceae) includes species pairs that hybridize readily in nature as well as pairs that meet along contact zones with no apparent hybridization. Artificial hybrids can be made between I: aggregata and I: arizonica, yet morphological intermediates between these two species have not been observed in natural populations... pollen from I. aggregata could, in some cases, sire seeds on I. arizonica."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11222244
+++++++++
56-
Fishes, crayfishes, mussels, and other invertebrates:
Perry WL, Lodge DM, Feder JL. Importance of hybridization between indigenous and nonindigenous freshwater species: an overlooked threat to North American biodiversity. Syst Biol. 2002 Apr;51(2):255-75.

"Identification of which species are likely to hybridize after contact is of critical importance to prevent the further loss of native species... species at risk of introgression... Although not a thorough review of all cases of hybridization, this article documents the extent and effects of hybridization in fishes, crayfishes, mussels, and other invertebrates... this approach may be the first step in addressing the potential threat of hybridization between many of the closely related species in North American fresh waters."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12028732

Etc…

///////////////////

http://www.iscid.org/boards/ubb-get_topic-f-6-t-000488-p-7.html posted 14. May 2004 15:44

57-
The two different colored snow geese were once thought to be two separate species. However, since the blue and white birds nest together and interbreed, taxonomists have determined that the blue goose is simply a color phase of the snow goose.

http://www.inetshops.com/newipnews/naturewalkl.htm

58-
Many duck species will interbreed, so these species often need to be aviary bred.

http://www.goodzoos.com/Animals/birds.htm

59a and 59b-
This species occurs in two forms in Europe, the all-dark Carrion Crow of western Europe and the grey-bodied 'Hooded Crow' of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Although these birds look completely different, they often interbreed where the range overlaps, producing hybrids which look intermediate between the two.

The Carrion Crow is a common resident except in northern Scotland where it is replaced by the Hooded Crow. The two races interbreed and intermediate individuals are common in the zone of overlap.

http://www.birdguides.com/html/vidlib/species/Corvus_corone.htm

60-
12 Sep 1999 AFRICA: Gorillas in a mystery age.
By Graham Phillips

Two groups of mountain gorillas. One lot lives in Virunga, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the other in Bwindi, Uganda. The two populations are separated by just 40km, yet that distance has been sufficient to prevent them mixing and interbreeding. The result of this separation is the Bwindi and Virunga apes look different and even have different behaviours... both would be in even more precarious situations, with only 300 in each sub-species. What's a caring conservationist to do here? The two groups don't naturally breed with each other, but they would if put in the same jungle... . It turns out the two sub-species of mountain gorilla have been around for only 500 years or so. It was human farmers carving up the forest that separated a single population of mountain gorillas into two distinct groups... there are differences between the two groups of apes: the Virunga are larger and have shaggier coats; the Virunga sleep on the ground while the Bwindi sometimes sleep in trees; the Bwindi eat more fruit... By the old definition of sub-species (there's no interbreeding, and there are visual and behavioural differences) the Virunga and Bwindi are separate... [but] interbreed them [to preserve them]

http://www.yowiehunters.com/crypto/reports/other_crypto_1.htm

61-
Grus rubicundus, related to the other crane species, particularly the Australian sarus crane, with which they can interbreed.

http://www.wellingtonzoo.com/animals/animals/birds_and_fish/brolga.html

62-
The BALTIMORE ORIOLE is an example of a taxonomist's nightmare. Its found throughout eastern North America, ranging as far west as the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Its cousin, the BULLOCK'S ORIOLE is found out west. The two ranges overlap in Cottonwood creek bottoms in western Kansas and Nebraska, where they interbreed... Because BALTIMORE and BULLOCK'S ORIOLES interbreed, they were lumped together into the NORTHERN ORIOLE. There was no more BALTIMORE ORIOLE, much to the dismay of the baseball team.

http://listserv.arizona.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0103e&L=birdeast&F=&S=&P=1102

63-
“Alder Flycatcher.” Although they were nearly indistinguishable even in the hand, they occupied different habitats and sang different songs. Careful study demonstrated that they rarely, if ever, interbred. Yet portions of their ranges overlapped – i.e. they were “sympatric.”. Using absence of hybridization in areas of sympatry as its main criterion, AOU split them into “Alder Flycatcher” (Empidonax alnorum) and “Willow Flycatcher” (Empidonax traillii)... If the test of a species is whether or not two populations hybridize where their ranges overlap, how do you decide when their ranges do not overlap any where? (The scientific term for not overlapping is, “allopatric”).

Recently, however, some of the most prominent splits have been of geographically-separated populations. Examples are Florida Scrub-Jay, Western Scrub-Jay and Island Scrub-Jay, which formerly were a single species called, “Scrub Jay.” Presumably DNA testing helped to demonstrate that those newly-named species are genetically different enough so that they probably would not hybridize if given the opportunity.

http://www.mobirds.org/Ezine/Ornithology101/Ornithology101.htm

[Where is in the last example an evidence of the second generation fertility test? Here is like going backwards]

64-
the domestic pig and the European wild boar are classified as the same species (Sus scrofa) and freely interbreed.
http://www.americazoo.com/goto/index/mammals/350.htm

European wild hogs and feral hogs interbreed readily, with traits of European wild hogs apparently being dominant.

http://www.trophy-quest.net/wild_boar_hog_info.htm

In the US there are several populations of these feral swine, from the lowlands of South Carolina and Florida to the mountains of North Carolina to the "razorbacks" of Arkansas, to the wild pigs of Texas (and I do not speak of Javelina) and California. Some of the populations reportedly have been interbreed with European or "Russian" boar, leading to larger animals with more typical coloration.

http://home.snafu.de/l.moeller/Wild/Wild_Boar.htm

65-
Savanna and forest elephants interbreed, Science News: Geneticists define new elephant species [should be 'sub-species']:

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m1200/10_160/78681649/p1/article.jhtml

The two forms interbreed where forest and ecosystems meet:

http://www.wildwatch.com/resources/mammals/elephant.asp

Dwarf African elephants inhabit the forest lowlands and interbreed with the larger form around the forest edge:

http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx?oid=12993

These three elephants can interbreed:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ss/stories/s798390.htm

Unexpectedly, along the Congo-Uganda border the two species do interbreed:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ss/stories/s82699.htm

Can African and Asian elephants interbreed?
Yes. A hybrid birth did occur in England at the Chester Zoo in 1979. The calf, which was named "Motty," only lived 10 days. This is the only recorded hybrid birth between Loxodonta africana and Elephas maximus, the African and Asian elephant.

http://www.zoo.org/educate/fact_sheets/elephants/elephant3.htm

-----------

In the next categories most typically female hybrids are fertile, while males sterile:

66-
Domestic cats (Felis catus) crossed with servals (Felis serval) produce hybrids called Savannah cats.

http://www.wlbengals.com/savannah.html

67-
Felis catus crossed with Asian leopard cats (Felis bengalensis) produce hybrids called Bengal cats.

http://www.absolutelybengals.com/pages/bengalhist.html

68-
Felis catus crossed with jungle cats (Felis chaus) produce hybrids called chausies.

http://geocities.com/savannahcats

69-
Cattle and bison: Domestic cattle (Bos taurus) and American bison (Bison bison) can be crossed to produce beefalo. Female hybrids are usually fertile, while males are sterile (Steklenev 1995, 1997).

-------------

The next animals generally produce sterile hybrids:

70-
Horse-donkey crosses produce sterile mules. Very rarely, a female mule may be fertile.

http://www.hamill.co.uk/british_mule_soc/fertile.html

71-
Lion-tigress crosses produce sterile offspring called ligers. Tiger-lioness crosses, tigons, are more rare. In some cases, female ligers and tigons have proved to be fertile.

http://www.sierrasafarizoo.com/animals/liger.htm

-----------

72-
a Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis - BBWD) has been seen at their site. This South American bird, as far as I can recall, was sighted by a team at Nylsvlei during BBD. The individual BBWD at TWT does not have a ring, sometimes carried by ascaped birds. This bird is capable of interbreeding with Whitefaced and Fulvous Ducks...
The Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicinsis) originating from both America's, has, as far as I can remember, also established sizable feral
breeding populations in Britain and Spain, and have started to interbreed with local species (I can't recall which - tell me please), creating a conservation problems.

http://birdnet.zarf.com/archive/9801/980127.htm

73-
The once dominant and undoubtedly valuable Biological Species Concept places emphasis on the ability of individuals to interbreed: forms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring are regarded as members of the same species... It is thus often associated with 'lumping', which is the downgrading of similar species into subspecies of a single species. A local example of a situation where application of the Biological Species Concept might be misleading is that of the recently-discovered narrow hybrid zone between Karoo Lark and Barlow's Lark. These two distinctly different species are not even each other's closest relatives, and their inappropriate 'lumping' into one species would obscure the myriad and fascinating differences shown between these forms.

http://peter.maxitec.co.za/birdingafrica/Resources__Taxonomy.html

/////////////

By those references you can see that the two last ones are opposed to interbreed subspecies because (they argue) the diversity of the parental line may 'disappear'.

I think that under a strictly rational and controlled interbreeding between subspecies, instead of the 'disappearance' of the parental lines, we will have 'more diversity'. So it is just question of doing it wisely, don't you think?

That is a straight Mendelian application to preserve the genetic pool of very endangered species before they become actually extinct and then, nothing else could be done.

And again, this destroys any 'speciational' fallacy, as we have been dealing with varieties or subspecies all the time, only.

------------------

http://www.iscid.org/boards/ubb-get_topic-f-6-t-000488-p-8.html

74- Taken From ‘Brainstorms’, posted 17. May 2004 10:08:

All the canis (domestic or feral) can interbreed and have a fertile offspring, being all of them members of the same species:

1-
www.ualberta.ca/~jzgurski/coyote.html

Coyotes and wolves can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. In fact all members
of the genus Canis (dogs, wolves, coyotes and jackals) are interfertile.

2-
http://www.wolf.org/wolves/learn/add_resource/hybrid.asp

Wolves and dogs can interbreed and produce [fertile] offspring. Wolves can be crossed with any breed of dog. The most common hybrids are wolf bred with malamute, husky, or German shepherd. Although wolf hybrids can occur naturally in the wild, this happens very infrequently due to the territorial nature of the wolf. Most hybrids are the result of deliberate breeding in captivity.

3-
www.ualberta.ca/~jzgurski/wwolf.html

[Wolves and dogs] are so closely related that they can interbreed and produce fertile offspring.
One important difference between wolves and domestic dogs is that dogs can breed twice a year and wolves can only breed once a year.
In captivity, wolves typically live to be about thirteen or fourteen years of age, and the oldest wolf on record lived to be eighteen years old. In the wild, however, wolves rarely live past ten years of age, because of disease, injuries, and parasites.
Most wild wolves do not live past five years, although there is one record of a wild wolf living to be thirteen years of age.

4-
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0852593.html

Three wolf species [again those are NOT 'species' but 'subspecies' !] (the gray wolf, red wolf, and coyote) are generally recognized, although there is much local variation within them.

Other living members of the genus Canis are the jackal and the dog. All Canis species can interbreed, producing fertile offspring; the Eskimos have interbred wolves and dogs to produce hardy animals for pulling sleds.

Taken from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001 [http://www.bartleby.com/65/wo/wolf.html]

5-
http://dsc.discovery.com/stories/dinos/bbc/howdoweknow/q43.html

Species are usually defined as a population of animals which can only mate with each other to form fertile offspring.
[D]ogs can interbreed with wolves to form fertile wolf-dog hybrids. This tells us that dogs are technically not a different species from wolves. There are many other examples of this.

6-
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bio99/bio99524.htm

Wolves, coyotes and domestic dogs are so closely related that
they can interbreed with fertile offspring.
J. Elliott

7-
http://www.bullovedbulldogs.com/sarf.htm

The Relationship Between The Wolf And The Domestic Dog

As further evidence of the wolf and the domestic dog being a single species, wolves and domestic dogs can also interbreed and produce fully fertile offspring

To deny this to deny a fact of nature.

8-
http://www.courteouscanine.com/isitawolf.shtml

Is It A Wolf And What Will It Do?
By Elisabeth Duman, BA

Wolf-dog hybrids continue to grow in popularity.

If an animal is much wolf at all, it cannot be kept as a simple family pet. I hope that you will be able to help people make educated decisions in keeping these animals safely and humanely.

9-
http://www.api4animals.org/562.htm

Over several generations, the more tractable and useful animals were kept, each forming a breed: a tamed Northern wolf-dog here, an Asian wolf-dog there, a jackal-dog in another place, a dingo-dog some place else, and an African wild dog-dog or coyote-dog in other places and at other times.

Today, wolves, jackals, dingoes, and coyotes can all interbreed with the domestic dog and produce fertile offspring.

------------------

nobody, Member # 145, posted 17. May 2004 11:33

Thanks Fernando,

That's all good information. I don't know your position on Noah's Flood, but it seems to me like this removes one of the key complaints by evolutionists. They say an ark of the size specified in the Bible could not hold all the species. But you are proving that, at least in some cases, evolutionists are using inflated numbers.

------------

http://www.iscid.org/boards/ubb-get_topic-f-6-t-000488-p-7.html posted 04. May 2004 17:05

You wrote:

>"The interesting variations in beak size and shape merely demonstrate the impressive flexibility that we observe as we learn more and more about God's incredible programming of life."

I completely agree with you, and inspired by your comment, I want to add the next, related to the study of cranes (National Geographic, April 2004, pp. 46-47):

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0404/feature2/map.html

I thought that, if all those cranes were also only varietes of one same species, as the finches are, they were then able to interbreed among themselves, and then, they were able to have a fertile offspring (the second generation fertility test.)

In that way, we can save the genetic load of the varieties endangered (the Canadian, the Siberian, and the Japanese), through crossing some of them with varieties not endangered, and according to Mendel's Laws, at least 1/4 of the F2 will present genotypic features corresponding to the endangered ones, and if we cross those, plus backcrosses with the original endangered ones, we can gradually increase and take out of the list the number of the 'endangered' varieties. We don't want those same organisms ever present on those lists.

This is another practical example of a perspective completely based on 'Intelligent Design' and in total opposition to evolution and to the mistakes of the 'morphological' classification of organisms.

Tell me what do you think about that, and how possible is for you or for likeminded researchers to 'team up' to propose a grant, to do such recoveries of 'endangered' organisms. That's a lot of work, but is worthy.

That will shut down the wrong idea of 'speciation', and will preserve and produce deliberately biodiversity in different natural and new locations.

I understand that ISCID is mostly theoretical, but I want to 'move on' and to put into practice those useful principles of ID that I have been posting.

God provided us with every natural resource to use them wisely, not to have them as useless natural 'sanctuaries' of biodiversity (wildlife parks and zoos are different). This is another 'clash' between the evolutionarily static conservationism versus the practical ID Research (as Mendel, and our contemporary breeders are well aware of).

I don't want neither to hide anymore our human ignorance behind useless hypotheses, theories, degrees, and titles that are based on 'evolutionary thinking'.

////////////

Putting Limits on the Diversity of Life
(Part 3.1)

Taken from 'Brainstorms':

http://www.iscid.org/boards/ubb-get_topic-f-6-t-000488-p-3.html

posted 04. April 2004 01:50

Mendel's Laws and the evolutionary censorship.

I held Darwin and its followers responsible, not only for obstructing the progress on the research proposed by Cuvier, but of obstructing other many good projects and ideas. I.E., Nägeli was Evolutionist and he prevented the works of Mendel to become well known, until Bateson in England re-discovered the Laws of Heredity (~30 years after the death of Mendel). Bateson started promoting them boldly, together with other “breeders”. However, no evolutionary “naturalists” were involved in the initial promotion of Mendel’s Laws. They dismissed to publish any paper about it, until the pressure of the evidence was overwhelming:

Mendel in America: Theory and Practice, 1900-1919, by D. B. Paul and B. A. Kimmelman, 1988, U. of Pennsylvania Press:

"The dominant force at the 1902 New York Conference was Bateson; his lead paper combined a straightforward account of Mendel's laws with a discussion of their applied, and especially commercial, importance” “…breeders active in promoting Mendelism were academic biologists.” “These biologists were generally affiliated with the USDA or state agricultural colleges and experiment stations and they aimed to combine practical public interests with theoretical science.”

“In sharp contrast with naturalists…”

“This point is illustrated by the diverse character of articles on Mendelism published in American journals between 1901 and 1903. The first to appear was:

1-) Charles Davenport's "Mendel's Laws of Dichotomy," in the Biological Bulletin, 1901, 2: 307-310.

It was quickly followed by:

2-) E. B. Wilson, "Mendel's Principles of Heredity and the Maturation of the Germ-cells," Science, 1902, 16: 991-992;

3-) Walter Sutton, "On the Morphology of the Chromosome Group in Brachystola magna," Biol. Bull., 1902, 3: 24-39;

4-) W. J. Spillman, "Exceptions to Mendel's Law," Science, 1902, 16: 709-710 and 784-796;

5-) R. A. Emerson, "Preliminary Account of Variation in Bean Hybrids," 15th Annual Report of the Nebraska Experiment Station, 1902; and

6-) Walter A. Cannon, "A Cytological Basis for Mendelian Cases," Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 1902.

Other early accounts include:

7-) Liberty Hyde Bailey, "A Discussion of Mendel's Law and its Bearings," Address before the Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology, Washington, D. C., 29 Dec. 1902, published as "Some Recent Ideas on the Evolution of Plants," Science, 1903, 17: 441-454;

8-) Walter Sutton, "The Chromosomes in Heredity," Biol. Bull., 1902, 4: 231-251; and

9-) William Castle, "The Laws of Heredity of Galton and Mendel and some Laws Governing Race Improvement by Selection," Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1903, 38: 535-548; reprinted as "Mendel's Law of Heredity," in Science, 1903, 18: 396-406, etc.

vs.

a-) Compare with the lack of interest expressed by the Botanical Gazette. The first mention of Mendel is a dismissive comment by the editor, John Merle Coulter, in a review of the third edition of Liberty Hyde Bailey's Plant Breeding (Botanical Gazette, 1904, 37: 471-472).

b-) The American Naturalist was also unimpressed. Other than a passing reference in a Botanical Note of 1902, there is no mention of Mendelism until 1904, and then only in Charles Davenport's book reviews. Editorial notes and articles first appear in 1907.”

Reference: http://www.mendelweb.org/MWpaul.intro.html

'The evolutionary thinking' of his time initially denied the grant requested by Bateson to verify the Laws of Mendel in animals and in plants. Bateson even wrote a full book in defense to Mendel's work but was equally rejected, it was not until he went to U.S. that the USDA became his strongest help to promote the Laws of Mendel, rejected and dismissed by evolution.

http://www.esp.org/foundations/genetics/classical/holdings/b/wb-02g.pdf

http://www.esp.org/books/bateson/mendel/facsimile

The evolutionary indifference towards the work of Mendel:

Key fragment of the Letters of Mendel to Nägeli:

Letter VIII
Of the experiments of previous years, those dealing with Matthiola annua and glabra, Zea, and Mirabilis were concluded last year. Their hybrids behave exactly like those of Pisum. Darwin’s statements concerning hybrids of the genera mentioned in “the variation of animals and plants under domestication,” based on reports of others, need to be corrected in many respects.
Your devoted,
GR. MENDEL
Brünn, 3 July 1870

[My comment: Mendel's 'Advisor' Nägeli did not put any care on that statement.]

http://www.esp.org/foundations/genetics/classical/holdings/m/gm-let.pdf

------------------------

In the early 1860s, Mendel sent his paper to Nägeli who was the nearest of the prominent botanists of the time. Nägeli glanced through the paper but apparently was repelled by the mathematics. He himself was a biologist of the old school and indulged in rather windy and obscure theorizations. A paper by an unknown monk with no theories but with only painstaking countings and ratios seemed worthless to him. He returned it with brief and cold comments, and this effectively chilled Mendel. To be sure, Nägeli offered to grow some of Mendel's seeds, but he never did and the offer was probably not meant seriously. He did not answer Mendel's later letters, and when Nägeli wrote his major work on evolution twenty years later, he did not mention Mendel.

Nägeli's cold reception had undoubtedly disheartened Mendel as did the indifference of the naturalists in Brünn. Nägeli died in 1891, never dreaming what a terrible mistake he had made... several nineteenth-century evolutionists such as Huxley and Nägeli had suggested evolution by jumps, but without evidence [somewhat like the proposals of N. Eldedgre and S.J. Gould].

http://www.rit.edu/~flwstv/genetics.html

[My comment: Mendel's Advisor did not took any care or interest in corroborating Mendel's seeds of Pisum, nor in answering the last letters of Mendel, and the worst was that Nägeli prevented the work of Mendel to be known because he did not even mention Mendel's work in his own works. Nägeli dismissed it. However, Nägeli imposed that only if the hawkweed behaved like Pisum, he will start paying any attention to Mendel's basic discovery, dismissing all the other species that Mendel was mentioning (plus other plant names below)]

------------------------

Karl Wilhelm Von Nägeli, a Swiss botanist, suggested in print that evolution occurred as a series of jumps. Nägeli went so far as to say that there was a drive within a species for these jumps to keep it varying in the same direction... His concept was ‘biological inertia’ and Nägeli called it "orthogenesis."

Mendel wrote up his results and sent them to Nägeli. Nägeli was not impressed because he thought that Mendel was just counting plants instead of working on some fundamental new scheme like his own orthogenesis. Bad break, for Mendel’s theory was of fundamental importance, while Nägeli’s was worthless. But Nägeli had the reputation, Mendel did not. Mendel's work remained unknown and he himself un-honored.

http://epswww.unm.edu/facstaff/zsharp/106/lecture%208,%20mendel.htm

------------------------

Mendel asked one of his fellow monks to send forty special reprints to botanists and other distinguished scientific figures known to be interested in the hybridization of plants. Nine of these reprints have so far come to light. One of the recipients was Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli, probably the most highly acclaimed botanist of the mid-nineteenth century, who was then teaching in Munich. He was the only one of the forty who was prompted to embark on an extended correspondence with Mendel. However, it appears likely that Nägeli had only glanced at the reprint because — although it in fact dealt with no fewer than 355 cross-bred strains and 12,980 resultant hybrids — he described Mendel’s work as "incomplete" and urged him to carry on with his experiments. Nägeli also offered Mendel "fatal" advice: to continue his investigations using the hawkweed (Hieracium), a plant belonging to the family of the asters. It was only later that botanists discovered these plants’ asexual reproduction, which meant that experiments in hybridization with hawkweed were bound to be inconclusive, since the genetic information is transferred exclusively via the maternal line.

http://hjem.get2net.dk/Paleontology/text/mreflect.html

[My comment: Plus, other sites affirm that Nägeli's copy of the work of Mendel was not even completely unwrapped and cut, showing that he did not even took any care on doing a carefully review of the whole work.]

------------------------

The arduous experiments required the use of a microscope, mirrors, fine needles, and artificial light and caused such severe eyestrain and backaches that Mendel was obliged to interrupt his research for long periods of time.

http://astro4.ast.vill.edu/mendel/gregor.htm

------------------------

Carl Nägeli, the botanist to whom Mendel wrote to about his pea plant experiments, was no longer lecturing at Münich. Nägeli, however, knew Correns' parents and took an interest in him. Nägeli was the one who encouraged Correns' interest in botany and advised Correns on his thesis subject. Nägeli and Correns' connection was more than just scientific; Correns eventually married Nägeli's grandniece.

http://www.dnaftb.org/dnaftb/concept_6/con6bio.html

------------------------

Karl von Nägeli, of the University of Munich, had previously experimented with hawkweed, a plant that follows a very unusual reproductive pattern. Mendel started experimenting with hawkweed, and lost confidence in everything he had accomplished studying peas. He finally gave up all experimentation when he became abbot of the monastery, though he continued to dabble in ornamental horticulture.

It's naive to say that Mendel was just a humble monk who never hoped for fame. In fact, he did hope for recognition, but the only recognition that came during his lifetime was as a local meteorologist. He died never knowing how much his findings would change history. Mendel's work was cited in a few papers in the late 19th century, but it wasn't until the dawning of the 20th, motivated in part by a priority dispute about publication, that other scientists took note of the 19th-century genius.

http://www.strangescience.net/mendel.htm

------------------------

More fragments of Mendel's Letters to Nägeli. Emphasis on Nägeli's insistence to Mendel on using Hieracium:

I
In the projected experiments with species of Cirsium and Hieracium I shall be entering a field in which your honor possesses the most extensive knowledge, knowledge that can be gained only through many years of zealous study, observation, and comparison of the manifold forms of these genera in their natural habitat. For the most part I lack this kind of experience… I am afraid that in the course of my experiments, especially with Hieracium, I shall encounter many difficulties, and therefore I am turning confidently to your honor with the request that you not deny me your esteemed interest when I need your advice.
With the greatest esteem and respect for your honor, I subscribe myself,
GREGOR MENDEL
Monastery Capitular and Teacher in the High School.
Brünn, 31 December 1866

II
With respect to the essay which your honor had the kindness to accept, I think I should add the following information: the experiments which are discussed were conducted from 1856 to 1863. I knew that the results I obtained were not easily compatible with our contemporary scientific knowledge, and that under the circumstances publication of one such isolated experiment was doubly dangerous; dangerous for the experimenter and for the cause he represented. Thus I made every effort to verify, with other plants, the results obtained with Pisum.
Your devoted,
G. MENDEL
(AltBrünn, Monastery of St. Thomas)
Brünn, 18 April, 1867

V
HIGHLY ESTEEMED SIR:
Accept my most cordial gratitude for the Hieracium seeds, which arrived in good condition. How grateful I am for this kind shipment, and how much I do appreciate your kindness in promising also a shipment of living plants. I shall do my utmost to produce all the possible hybrids among the species, and if they should be fertile, their progeny will be observed for several generations. I must ask you to please charge the expenses of purchase and transportation, and any others, to my account.
Your devoted friend,
GREGOR MENDEL
Abbot and Prelate of the
Monastery of St. Thomas
Brünn, 4 May 1868

VI
HIGHLY ESTEEMED FRIEND:
Forgive me for being so tardy in expressing my most sincere gratitude for the species of Hieracium which you sent me. I received the little box on May 12. Since I had to start a long tour of inspection on the same day, I could not find the time necessary to thank you in writing. The gardener received instructions to handle the plants with great care, to pot one specimen of each, and plant the rest in the garden.
When I returned a few days ago, I found to my great regret, that half of the potted plants had died, probably the consequence of excessive watering.
Your devoted friend,
GREGOR MENDEL
Brünn, 12 June 1868

VII
Hybrids of Hieracium show, strangely enough, a very different behavior in the production of their progeny, than do those of Cirsium. Cirsium would be an excellent experimental plant for the study of variable hybrids, if it required less space.
Yours always respectfully,
GREGOR MENDEL
Brünn, 15 April 1869

VIII
In Pisum and other plant genera I had observed only uniform hybrids and therefore expected the same in Hieracium. I must admit to you, honored friend, how greatly I was deceived in this respect.
On this occasion I cannot resist remarking how striking it is that the hybrids of Hieracium show a behavior exactly opposite to those of Pisum. Evidently we are here dealing only with individual phenomena...
Your devoted,
GR. MENDEL
Brünn, 3 July 1870

X
The exception which Hieracium seems to make in this respect must find a natural explanation...
I cannot yet give a report on the success of the collection of Moravian hybrids of Hieracium initiated by Prof. Niessl. Shipments from the corresponding members of our society are expected not sooner than this winter.
Yours very respectfully,
GR. MENDEL
Brünn 18/11 1873

http://www.esp.org/foundations/genetics/classical/holdings/m/gm-let.pdf

------------------------

"Nägeli also offered Mendel "fatal" advice: to continue his investigations using the hawkweed (Hieracium), a plant belonging to the family of the asters."

http://mendel.imp.univie.ac.at/mendeljsp/biography/biography.jsp

------------------------

"Nägeli was convinced that hybrids were generally unstable and he could not agree with Mendel's theory that the characters passed onto hybrids from their parents were constant." "Hieracium is a genus that poses difficulties to botanists even today."

http://www.mendel-museum.org/eng/1online/room4.htm

[Hieracium's] seeds are usually produced by apomixis… they are purely maternal in origin and arise without the intervention of meiosis or fertilization (Raunkiär 1903, Ostenfeld 1904). In other words, this was the worst possible choice of material for the study of segregation and recombination - for reasons that could not be guessed at the time [Sturtevant, A. H., 1965, A History of Genetics, Cold Spring Harbor Lab. Press, p. 11]

http://www.esp.org/books/sturt/history/contents/sturt-history-ch-02.pdf

Bateson concludes: The discovery of Ostenfeld and Raunkiaer that Hieracium is frequently parthenogenetic, or apogamous, of course puts an entirely new construction on the results of these experiments [On Hieracium-Hybrids Obtained By Artificial Fertilisation, By Gregor Mendel (Mendel's paragraph mentioning Darwin in that article, "The question of the origin of the numerous and constant intermediate forms has recently acquired no small interest since a famous Hieracium specialist has, in the spirit of the Darwinian teaching, defended the view that these forms are to be regarded as [arising] from the transmutation of lost or still existing species". And at the end of that work, Mendel mentions Pisum, Salix, and… Nägeli: "If finally we compare the described result, still very uncertain, with those obtained by crosses made between forms of Pisum, which I had the honour of communicating in the year 1865, we find a very real distinction. In Pisum the hybrids, obtained from the immediate crossing of two forms, have in all cases the same type, but their posterity, on the contrary, are variable and follow a definite law in their variations", "By the kindness of Dr Nägeli, the Munich Director, who was good enough to send me species which were wanting, especially from the Alps, I am in a position to include a larger number of forms in my experiments. I venture to hope even next year to be able to contribute something more…", "Already in describing the Pisum experiments it was remarked that there are also hybrids whose posterity do not vary, and that, for example, according to Wichura the hybrids of Salix reproduce themselves like pure species", "Whether from this circumstance we may venture to draw the conclusion that the polymorphism of the genera Salix and Hieracium is connected with the special condition of their hybrids is still an open question, which may well be raised but not as yet answered") [Translated and reprinted as an appendix to Bateson, W. 1909. Mendel’s Principles of Heredity. A Defence. Cambridge University Press. Taken from: Mendel, Gregor. 1870. Ueber einige aus künstlichen Befruchtung gewonnen Hieracium-Bastarde. Verhandlungen des naturforschenden Vereines, Abhandlungen, Brünn, Bd. VIII für das Jahr 1869, 26–31]

http://www.esp.org/foundations/genetics/classical/holdings/m/gm-69.pdf

------------------------

Nägeli, Karl von (1817-1891)

"He (Nägeli) did more harm to biology than good, especially in his contemptuous dismissal of Mendel's work on pea plants."

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Naegeli.html

[I converge with that statement done by the team that designs the Software "Mathematica". They also show that Nägeli was an Evolutionist but not a Darwinist, as Nägeli himself rejected the main proposals of Darwin, trying to develop his own theory of Evolution, which resembled the one developed a century later by Gould. That evidence demonstrates that there wasn’t then and there is not now any unified theory of evolution but rather, multiple hypotheses on "evolution". Nägeli, the bad advisor of Mendel was a non-Darwinian, however he was indeed an evolutionist. So, being a non-Darwinian evolutionist, even semi-Darwinian or Theistic Evolutionist and their speculations have not been of any useful or practical purpose in biology, or in any science, just the opposite.]

------------------------

[Nägeli] completely failed to appreciate Mendel's work and made some rather pointless criticisms of it in his reply to Mendel's [first] letter. He did not refer to it in his publications… [Mendel] reports [to Nägeli] studies on Mirabilis, maize [Zea], and stocks [Mathiola, "Matthiola annua and glabra"]. Of these three he says, "Their hybrids behave exactly like those of Pisum." The character studied in stocks was hairiness… [also] the [color] experiments had lasted six years and were being continued - this in 1870. He had grown 1500 specimens for the purpose in that year… In Mirabilis he had seen and understood the intermediate color of a heterozygote and had made the appropriate tests to establish this interpretation. He also mentioned experiments with several other plants - Aquilegia, Linaria, Calceolaria, Zea, Ipomoea, Cheiranthus, Tropaeolum (Tropaeoleum), Lychnis, Geum, Cirsium, etc., etc. (se below some of them). The picture that emerges is of a man very actively and effectively experimenting, aware of the importance of his discovery, and testing and extending it on a wide variety of forms. None of these results were published; it is difficult to suppose that his work would have been so completely ignored if he had presented this confirmatory evidence, even though it was not enough to convince Nägeli… [Sturtevant, A. H., 1965, A History of Genetics, Cold Spring Harbor Lab. Press, p. 11-12]

http://www.esp.org/books/sturt/history/contents/sturt-history-ch-02.pdf

Other plants different than Hieracium mentioned by Mendel (excerpts from Mendel's letters to Nägeli):

1-Aquilegia
"The success of the hybridization is evident… The same may be said of the autumn seedlings of the hybrids Aquilegia canadensis+vulgaris A. canadensis+A. atropurpurea, and A. canadensis+A. Wittmaniana… Thus far the three Aquilegia hybrids… are suitable"

2-Linaria
"I have obtained luxuriant plants of Linaria vulgaris+L. purpurea",
"Linaria vulgaris may fairly easily be fertilized by the pollen of other Linaria species; among five attempts made this summer, four were successful. Among them is the combination with the beautiful L.genistifolia; this hybrid is reported to grow in the wild around Brünn"

3-Calceolaria
"The same may be said of Calceolaria salicifolia and C. rugosa"

4-Zea
"Hybrids of Zea Mays major (with dark red seeds)+Z. Mays minor (with yellow seeds) and of Zea Mays major (with dark red seeds)+Zea Cuzko (with white seeds) will develop during the summer"

5-
Mirabilis
"It concerns the opinion of Naudin and Darwin that a single pollen grain does not suffice for fertilization of the ovule. I used Mirabilis Jalappa for an experimental plant, as Naudin had done; the result of my experiment is, however, completely different. From fertilizations with single pollen grains, I obtained 18 well-developed seeds, and from these an equal number of plants, of which ten are already in bloom",
"I want to repeat the experiment; and it should also be possible to prove directly by experi