Comments on: Holy hybrids Batman! Caribbean fruit bat is a mash-up of three species

By: Coturnix

Coturnix — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 23:41:04 +0000

Yup, I looked at your blog and saw a shirt of a different color. But anyway, this is a cool story!

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:13:48 +0000

Hey good memory Bora, I do have a picture of myself with A. jamaicensis that is nearly identical to that one! Not my shirt in the background here, though, and the one I was holding was a pregnant female. What a fascinating study here, wow, there aren’t many examples of this in vertebrates!

By: DrugMonkey

DrugMonkey — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:01:39 +0000

But not always – hybrids often do the opposite, developing extreme and overstated traits well beyond the natural variation of their parents.

Is this like the Liger?

By: KathyO

KathyO — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:31:03 +0000

I’m trying to follow this, but the mitochondrial DNA data is messing me up. Here’s what I think you’re saying:

Bat species A and B mate, creating a hybrid. The hybrid has mostly species A mitochondrial DNA but mostly B genomic DNA. This creature breeds with species C, resulting in a new species with B/C genomic DNA and A mitochondrial DNA.

Do I have that right?

By: Coturnix

Coturnix — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:17:28 +0000

Image author is Tobusaru, but I bet the person in the image is Anne-Marie Hodge – let’s search her old Pondering Pikaia blog or Facebook….