Does centipede have problems with inbreeding ?

[elnos1]

i have two suspinipes centipede and i want to breed them but i hear from my seller that they are the same bloodline so im very confused, should I let them breed ?? Sorry for my bad english

 

[Poonjab]

Only if you want them to start playing the banjo.

 

[Scp682]

I strongly recommend against but then again they inbreed dogs into degenerate unhealthy unnatural things like pugs and bulldogs and people find them "cute". Short answer don't. Long answer it's inbreeding so there's bound to be issues even if you don't notice them so keep that in mind. For 1 generation there may be nothing note worthy but it's still inbreeding what about the next generation? think about how it impacts the animals' lives.

 

[Arthroverts]

It is unlikely to cause problems (unless you continue to breed closely related specimens long-term) as invertebrates in general have a very high resistance to inbreeding. That said, it would definitely be preferable to get a specimen from a different lineage to breed.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[elnos1]

Thank guys for the advices because i think that the fm centipede just responsible for taking care the sperm to the pedeling and doesn't contribute to genes and I still don't have the answer for that thought

 

[Sarkhan42]

I've heard that some keepers have siblings among centipedes not be receptive for breeding. I don't know how extensive this problem is, or how consistent it is among species, but figured it would be good to share in case you also experience this.

 

[Arthroverts]

Thank guys for the advices because i think that the fm centipede just responsible for taking care the sperm to the pedeling and doesn't contribute to genes and I still don't have the answer for that thought

How are the eggs fertile then? It takes both male and female genetic material to create viable eggs except in parthenogenetic species.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[DomGom TheFather]

Only if you want them to start playing the banjo.

Banjo is dope, bro.

 

[Edan bandoot]

There haven't been many studies done on arthropod inbreeding in general, but 90% of the other organisms on the planet suffer genetic issues/amplification of recessive traits when continually inbred over several generations.

Don't do it if you have the option not to, but one generation is unlikely to cause issues

 

[Scoly]

We don't yet know what the full effects of inbreeding are on centipedes, and it is likely to be complex. There have been a surprising number of studies done on spiders which you can find on Google. They generally indicate a reduced fitness, but also that there are trade-offs in certain species. Here is an excerpt from https://web.uri.edu/preisserlab/files/Animal-Behavior-2017-132-253-259.pdf dicussing a wolf spider, Pardosa astrigera:

Male courtship behaviour was similar for sibling and nonsibling females; although females were less likely to mate with siblings, over half did mate successfully with them. Sibling-mated females produced fewer offspring from the first egg sac and fewer total offspring, but inbred offspring survived longer in a range of environments than their outbred counterparts.

So it would seem it is not as straightforward as it seems. Note that this is for a monandrous species (female mates once, because she dies or is eaten) and may be different for polyandrous species which mate with multiple males in their lifetime.

The theory that siblings may not be so eager to mate may be true, although siblings certainly do mate and produce valid offspring in many cases. Studying the fitness of offspring in Scolopendomorpha however could prove rather difficult, as survival rate can vary widely between two clutches produced by the same female from the same pairing, to a much greater extent than seen in spiders (hobby breeder observations).

Bear in mind that certain species (S.morsitans, S.supspinipes) have spread to many islands beyond their native range, and it is very likely that many of these introductions originated with a single gravid female. This suggests that populations will recover from inbreeding over time.

Another point which everyone seems to ignore in the hobby is that we all assume that pairing two wild caught specimens guarantees they are unrelated, whereas they could very well be siblings if collected from the same area. Similarly, a wild caught gravid female could well have been inseminated by a sibling.

To summarise, like all sexually reproducing animals they benefit from genetic diversity (which is the whole point of sexual reproduction in the first place) and have various adaptations to make them prefer outbreeding to inbreeding for that very reason. But they also readily (and regularly) inbreed in the wild and don't suffer enormously from it so long as diversity is restored a few generations down the line.

Some people will argue against the idea that they inbreed "regularly" and claim they only do this as a last resort. The simple answer to that is that it's near impossible for a female to gauge whether she is in a "last resort" situation, i.e. if a sibling presents himself to mate, how can she know whether its best to turn him down and wait for an unrelated male? If she always refuses a sibling, then that species will never inbreed, which reduces its chances of colonising other areas or surviving periods when populations thin down or gets cut-off from the rest (flooding, natural habitat change, falling in a cave, ending up on an island etc...) If she always accepts a sibling then inbreeding will be rampant and the genetic diversity will suffer. So the optimal adaptation for survival is having a preference towards non-siblings, and being as it is just a preference, inbreeding will certainly be happening regularly in the wild.

 

[Alex9104]

Sweet home Alabama