>>yes, but I believe this is the first of the BIG lizards, komodo in particular. It's an interesting process of nature, regardless, in that she takes care of what needs to be taken care of (in the those that regularly do it). Sort of like certain spiders (e.g. black widow) which can retain sperm for YEARS! She then releases her eggs wen conditions are just right. I know tarantulas do, too but I don't think as long as the widow. Ma nature - gotta love her
Black widows can retain sperm from a single mating yes and they can use that sperm to create 1-9 egg sacs, but their lifespan is actually only around 18 months.... not years. The only way to keep a black widow female alive more than 2 years is to never mate her. The process of egg laying is what drives the health of the spider into the ground until it is worn out and dead. Even with a virgin widow, you are looking at 3-4 years.. 5 years tops.
Reptiles can retain viable sperm for about 1-2 years. Any viable offspring (without additional mating) beyond that time frame should be suspected as parthenogenesis at work.
I have an eastern kingsnake hatchling. She hatched back in July. I've had the mother of that hatchling at work for almost 8 years now. In all the time I've had the mother she has not been mated with a male kingsnake. The mother laid 10 eggs in May. Since she had not been mated, logically one would assume to throw the 'infertile' eggs out. However, of the 10 eggs, 6 looked like normal fertile eggs and the other 4 were obviously slugs. On a whim, I incubated the good eggs. 4 of the 6 "good" eggs developed blood vessels after two weeks of incubation... about halfway through the incubation process, the 2 eggs that hadn't developed vessels molded and collapsed. Then starting about 2 weeks before the time of expected hatching, things started going down hill....the eggs slowly stopped showing signs of blood vessels when candled... the vessels thinned and dwindled and 3 eggs molded and collapsed. The 4th egg surprisingly hatched.
Logical conclusion - parthenogenic baby.
The mother is an aberrant patterned animal and the baby is even more aberrant than the mother. That's the only similarity between the two. Not sure where I could go to get DNA testing on the snakes done to confirm the genetics of the two animals though by everyone's account and from the time line it can likely be considered bona fide.
It will be curious to see if the mother lays another clutch next spring and what the outcome would be.
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PHWyvern
