Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm new to this game, but have a background in biochemistry and genetics. This is why I am puzzled...

I see lots of talk about "proving out" things but have never heard of a super spider or super pin that carry 2 copies of the gene. Using theoretical genetics, if a spider is bred to another spider, there should be 1/4 of the babies that are homozygous for the spider gene. Each of their offspring should be a spider.

I have done searches and cannot find any info on a super spider (even if it does exist).

Has anyone tried to take the babies from a spider x spider (or bee) and proven that they have a homozyogous spider rahter than just a heterozygous spider?

If they don't exist it raises some very interesting questions about the viability of homozygous spiders and could be explained by imparied neural development caused by the gene that leads to the wobble.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

As far as I know, nobody has produced a homozygous spider. There are a number of possible explanations. As far as I know, nobody has done the work needed to explain the spider head wobble, too. Might be a good project for a graduate degree candidate or post doc. Also, see my post in this thread in the general ball python forum.

Paul Hollander