Oviparity

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Jump to: navigation, search Oviparous animals are animals that lay eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, reptiles, all birds, the monotremes, and most insects, some molluscs and arachnids. With more scientific rigor, five modes of reproduction can be differentiated [1] based on relations between zygote and parents:

Ovuliparity : fecundation is external (in arthropods and fishes, most of frogs) Oviparity : fecundation is internal, the female lays zygotes as eggs with important vitellus (typically birds) Ovo-viviparity : or oviparity with retention of zygotes in the females body or in the males body, but there are no trophic interactions between zygote and parents. (Anguis fragilis is an example of ovo-viviparity.) In the sea horse, zygotes are retained in the males ventral "marsupium". In the frog Rhinoderma darwinii, the zygotes developed in the vocal sac. In the frog Rheobatrachus, zygotes developed in the stomach. Histotrophic viviparity : the zygotes developed in the females oviducts, but find their nutriments by oophagy or adelphophagy (intra-uterine cannibalism in some sharks or in the black salamander Salamandra atra). Hemotrophic viviparity : nutriments are provided by the female, often through placenta. In the frog Gastrotheca ovifera, embryos are fed by the mother through specialized gills. The lizard Pseudomoia pagenstecheri and most of mammals exhibit a hemotrophic viviparity.

Land-dwelling animals that lay eggs, often protected by a shell, such as reptiles and insects, do so after having completed the process of internal fertilization. Water-dwelling animals, such as fish and amphibians, lay their eggs before fertilization, and the male lays its sperm on top of the newly laid eggs in a process called external fertilization. Almost all non-oviparous fish, amphibians and reptiles are ovoviviparous, i.e. the eggs are hatched inside the mother's body (or, in case of the sea horse inside the father's). The true opposite of oviparity is placental viviparity, employed by almost all mammals (the exceptions being marsupials and monotremes). There are only five hundred known species of oviparous mammals: four species of Echidna and the Platypus.

Ovoviviparity

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(December 2009)

Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, or ovivipary, is a mode of reproduction in animals in which embryos develop inside eggs that are retained within the mother's body until they are ready to hatch. Ovoviviparous animals are similar to viviparous species in that there is internal fertilization and the young are born live, but differ in that there is no placental connection and the unborn young are nourished by egg yolk; the mother's body does provide gas exchange (respiration), but that is largely necessary for oviparous animals as well. Ovoviviparity is employed by many aquatic life forms such as some fish, reptiles, and invertebrates. The young of ovoviviparous amphibians are sometimes born as larvae, and undergo metamorphosis outside the body of the mother. With more scientific rigor, five modes of reproduction can be differentiated [1] based on relations between zygote and parents: Ovuliparity : fecundation is external (in arthropods and fishes, most of frogs) - Oviparity : fecundation is internal, the female lays zygotes as eggs with important vitellus (typically birds) Ovo-viviparity : or oviparity with retention of zygotes in the females body or in the males body, but there are no trophic interactions between zygote and parents. (Anguis fragilis is an example of ovo-viviparity. In sea horse, zygotes are retained in the males ventral "marsupium". In the frog Rhinoderma darwinii , the zygotes developed in the vocal sac. In the frog Rheobatrachus, zygotes developed in the stomach. - Histotrophic viviparity : the zygotes developed in the females oviducts, but find their nutriments by oophagy or adelphophagy (intrauterine cannibalism in some sharks or in the black salamander Salamandra atra). Hemotrophic viviparity : nutriments are provided by the female, often through placenta. In the frog Gastrotheca ovifera, embryos are fed by the mother through specialized gills. The lizard Pseudomoia pagenstecheri and most of mammals exhibit a hemotrophic viviparity.

Contents
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1 Aplacental viviparity 2 Ovolarviparity 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Aplacental viviparity

In sharks and rays, the term ovoviviparity has recently been deprecated in favor of aplacental viviparity. Authors may regard the two terms as synonymous, or equate ovoviviparity only with aplacental yolk-sac viviparity, in which the embryos are solely sustained by yolk (as opposed to secondary provisioning by their mother in the form of "uterine milk", such as in the stingrays, or unfertilized eggs, such as in the mackerel sharks; the latter is referred to as intrauterine oophagy). There is a wide range of forms of intrauterine provisioning however, which could complicate the classification. In at least some sharks the routine intrauterine oophagy is not limited to unfertilised or trophic eggs, in various forms and in in some the principle extends to actual intrauterine cannibalism.

[edit] Ovolarviparity
Among entomologists some authorities[2] prefer the term ovolarviparous for insects that produce hatched or hatching larvae, in contrast to animals such as many snakes and lizards that give birth to young that already largely resemble their adult form. The idea is not unreasonable in general, but hard to sustain in detail. For one thing there are all sorts of gradations of resemblance between young and mature organisms of the same species, making it hard to draw clear distinctions between young and larvae, and accordingly, between ovoviviparity and ovolarviparity. For another, although there is a clear resemblance between say the newly born aphid, or chameleon (of say, the genus Bradypodion) and the parents, whereas there is a dramatic difference between the newly-born larvae of say, some ovolarviparous tachinid and Sarcophagid flies and the parents, it is easy to make too much of such resemblances. The differences to be found between say, the chameleons and their offspring (young lacking noticeable crest or bright colours etc.) are clearly functional, inhibiting adult aggression, so they are not trivial but systematic; the differences between insect larvae and adults might be more dramatic, but one could argue that they are no more significant in principle. A comparatively small number of species of insects bear larvae already fully grown and ready to pupate. The most dramatic example is probably the Tsetse fly, but that is an example of vivipary or if one prefers larvipary, because the larva has already shed its skin more than once and emergence from the egg has nothing to do with its birth.[3]

Many other differences between young and mature viviparous or ovoviviparous organisms are clearly adaptive rather than adventitious; one could make a strong case for regarding human babies as larvae for example, considering the distinct differences in their skeletal and hormonal development and their bodily proportions.

Vivipary
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Viviparity) Jump to: navigation, search

Vivipary has two different meanings. In animals, it means development of the embryo inside the body of the mother, eventually leading to live birth, as opposed to laying eggs. In plants, it means reproduction via embryos, such as buds, that develop from the outset without interruption, as opposed to germinating externally from a seed.

Contents
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1 In animals 2 In plants 3 References 4 See also

[edit] In animals
Five modes of reproduction can be differentiated in animals[1] based on relations between zygote and parents:

Ovuliparity : fecundation is external (in arthropods and fishes, most of frogs) Oviparity : fecundation is internal, the female lays zygotes as eggs with important vitellus (typically birds) Ovo-viviparity : or oviparity with retention of zygotes in the females body or in the males body, but there are no trophic interactions between zygote and parents. Anguis fragilis is an example of ovo-viviparity. In seahorse, zygotes are retained in the males ventral "marsupium". In the frog Rhinoderma darwinii, the zygotes develop in the vocal sac. In the frog Rheobatrachus, zygotes develop in the stomach.

Histotrophic viviparity : the zygotes develop in the females oviducts, but find their nutriments by oophagy or adelphophagy (intra-uterine cannibalism in some sharks or in the black salamander Salamandra atra). Hemotrophic viviparity : nutriments are provided by the female, often through some form of placenta. In the frog Gastrotheca ovifera, embryos are fed by the mother through specialized gills. The skink Pseudemoia pagenstecheri and most of mammals exhibit a hemotrophic viviparity.

A relatively less developed form of animal vivipary is called ovoviviparity, which, for instance, occurs in most vipers and most live-bearing bony fishes (Poeciliidae). The more developed form of vivipary is called placental viviparity. Placental mammals are the best example, but other animals have also adapted by incorporating this principle. Examples include some species of scorpions[2] and cockroaches[3], certain genera of sharks and snakes, and velvet worms. Certain lizards, in particular some species of skink, also reproduce in this way, referred to as viviparous matrotrophy. Examples include the species Tiliqua rugosa and members of the genus Corucia. In such species the placenta is attached directly to the mother. Viviparous offspring live independently and require an external food supply from birth. This contrasts with some egg laying animals, such as fish and amphibia in which the recently hatched young bear yolk sacs. Precocial birds, such as domestic fowl, typically also bear internal yolk sacs at birth. Recent investigation has revealed that in at least one species of skink in the large genus Trachylepis this process has gone essentially to completion. In several respects the phenomenon is of considerable importance in theoretical zoology. In the uterus the eggs are very small, about 1mm in diameter, with very little yolk and very thin shells. The shell membrane is vestigial and transient; its disintegration permits the absorption of nutrients from uterine secretions. The embryo then produces invasive chorionic tissues that grow between the cells of the uterine lining till they can absorb nutrients from maternal blood vessels. As it penetrates the lining, the embryonic tissue grows aggressively till it forms sheets of tissue beneath the uterine epithelium. They eventually strip it away and replace it, making direct contact with maternal capillaries. The authors remark that such an endotheliochorial placenta is fundamentally different from that of any known viviparous reptile.[4] There is a relationship between sex-determining mechanism and whether a species bears live young or lays eggs. Temperature-dependent sex determination which cannot function in an aquatic environment, is seen only in terrestrial reptiles. Therefore, marine viviparous species, including sea snakes and, it now appears, the mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs, and plesiosaurs of the Cretaceous, use genotypic sex determination (sex chromosomes), much like birds and mammals.[5]

[edit] In plants
This section requires expansion.

Poa alpina, a grass which shows vivipary: the seeds germinate while still attached to the mother plant.

Viviparous plants produce seeds that germinate before they detach from the parent. In many mangroves, for instance, the seedling germinates and grows under its own energy while still attached to its parent before dropping into the water in order to transport away. In some trees, like Jackfruit, the seeds can be found already germinated while the fruit goes overripe; this condition cannot be said as vivipary since the moist and humid conditions provided by the fruit mimics like a wet soil that encourages germination. However, the seeds can germinate under soil too.[6]