Paedogenesis

For the process of soil evolution, see Pedogenesis.

Paedogenesis is the act of reproduction of an organism that has not reached physical maturity. It is associated with progenesis, where sexual maturity is reached in the juvenile form and physical maturity is not yet achieved.

The capacity of paedogenesis is found in insects in which the larval phase reproduces without reaching maturity. It occurs in females of certain beetles, strepsiptera, snail worms and some mosquitoes.

Sometimes, in some species, such as mosquitoes, larvae are born essentially pregnant and reproduce rapidly. Often, these insects are devoured by the mother in the process (matrifagia). This process is usually triggered by periods of food abundance in the area and will continue indefinitely until the abundance of food is gone. An interesting example of both paedogenesis and matrifagia is found in the "telephone beetle", Micromalthus debilis LeConte (Coleoptera: Micromalthidae) which has one of the most complex life histories of any metazoan (see Pollack and Normark, 2001, J. Zool Syst. Evol Res 40). Larvae of the triungulin type (1. stage) either are born from eggs, or are born live from female larvae paedogénesicas (telitoquía cyclic).

As they develop, they pass through a cerambicoid larval phase and a rest phase that faces a bifurcation of possible life histories: it can become an adult female ovípara through the pupal state (nymph), or changes to a larva female paedogeneic.

This fascinating life story is believed to have evolved by a malfunctioning of the male symbionts, which in good condition allow them to digest the wood of decomposing trunks and feed themselves. Adults are very scarce and only occur when the section of the tree is dried and dispersion becomes necessary. To produce a male, a female larva produces a haploid male egg (arrenotoquia) and enters a latent state during which the egg is incubated as a larva and consumes the body of its mother - the only available food source, since wood can not be digested - before becoming nymphs and emerging as an adult

Thus, the production of male offspring is very expensive and is believed to have driven the evolution of paedogenesis in females. However, in essence, becoming a male, at the cost of discarding half of its genome, the female paedogenésica retains the capacity of metamorphosis to become an adult that is capable of dispersing larvae when its environment deteriorates. / p>

wiki