Did my Damon Medius and Damon Diadema crossbreed???

[Reinerrrr]

So, first off i had my Medius, then i had read somewhere that they could live together so i wanted another one because the enclose was big enough. I thought if i'd buy a different species i will never have to sorry about baby's. So i bought a diadema. First off they lived very well together they never fought or anything besides being a different species. After a year or so i found a spermatophore attached to the wall. I really didn't think anything of it. But now i've found one of them covered in baby's.
Ik never thought that it could happen but here it is.
Did my female reproduce asexually or is it really a crossbreed??

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Yea. It sounds like they were closely related enough to..
Have you looked up if they can
reproduce asexually?

 

[Tbone192]

Uh oh....only if they indeed crossbred, and even then it's not a huge issue as long as they don't get the chance to breed. Quite a few Damon species have been observed taking part in parthenogenesis/asexual reproduction. I wouldn't be surprised if the babies are all clones.

 

[Brewser]

"Life finds a way"
Ian Malcom

 

[Tbone192]

Uh oh....only if they indeed crossbred, and even then it's not a huge issue as long as they don't get the chance to breed. Quite a few Damon species have been observed taking part in parthenogenesis/asexual reproduction. I wouldn't be surprised if the babies are all clones.

Quite a few Charontidae species are parthenogenic, I think actually only a handful of Damon sp exhibit the behaviour. That being said, D medius has been documented partaking in parthenogenesis. There is definitely a chance this is hybridization. Very confusing indeed!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

"Life finds a way"
Ian Malcom

Perfect storm of what and the heck happened??? Like mixing a dalmatian with a corgi.
If they bred at all?

 

[that1ocelot]

Quite a few Charontidae species are parthenogenic, I think actually only a handful of Damon sp exhibit the behaviour. That being said, D medius has been documented partaking in parthenogenesis. There is definitely a chance this is hybridization. Very confusing indeed!

Where have you seen parthenogenesis in Damon sp.?

 

[Sarkhan42]

So, first off i had my Medius, then i had read somewhere that they could live together so i wanted another one because the enclose was big enough. I thought if i'd buy a different species i will never have to sorry about baby's. So i bought a diadema. First off they lived very well together they never fought or anything besides being a different species. After a year or so i found a spermatophore attached to the wall. I really didn't think anything of it. But now i've found one of them covered in baby's.
Ik never thought that it could happen but here it is.
Did my female reproduce asexually or is it really a crossbreed??

I think the first step is to confirm your animals are ACTUALLY different species. Far too often Damon medius are peddled as diadema- I'd suspect most likely that's what happened here, and you actually just have two medius.

 

[wizentrop]

I agree with @Sarkhan42's comment above. It is very likely that both are medius as diadema has become quite uncommon recently in the hobby due to no new imports.

Aside from that, I HIGHLY disagree that two different species successfully crossbred. Amblypygi are extremely selective when it comes to mates and neighbours, even within their own species. It is more likely that they will reject, or worse, attack and injure, a member of a different species unless it is significantly smaller in size (small inverts are ignored usually). Moreover, the courtship process as well as the shape of the spermatophore are unique in every species, and it is unlikely to be accepted by a different species.

Another clue here is that crossbreeding in different species of Amblypygi has never been reported. More specifically, D. diadema is an East Africa species and D. medius is a West Africa species. They are very different and their distributions don't even overlap. Now if you told me that it was D. medius and D. johnstonii crossbreeding I would entertain that possibility, because they are very similar and overlap in their distribution. Still highly unlikely due to the defensive temper of both species.

Oh and just to wrap it up, there is currently no record of Parthenogenesis (or double clutching, for that matter) in any member of Phrynichidae.

 

[Tbone192]

Where have you seen parthenogenesis in Damon sp.?

That is my mistake. Parthenogenesis has only been observed in Charinus and potentially Sarax sp. C acosta is confirmed.

This is a paper on C ioanniticus from Peter Weygoldt. Subjects collected from Rhode Island, Greece. The PDF is all I could find without a paywall.