Biology · A Unity and diversity. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.
No two organisms are exactly alike. Variation is a feature of all life, and organisms with shared traits are grouped into species. Each species has a two-part Latin name, the binomial: the genus followed by the species.
The biological species concept defines a species as a group of organisms that can breed together to produce fertile offspring. It works badly for organisms that reproduce asexually, for fossils, and for populations that are still slowly diverging.
Members of one species share the same chromosome number and the same genes, but differ in small ways in their base sequences. Different species often differ in chromosome number and in genome size.
Thinking that two organisms are the same species because they can mate. The offspring must also be fertile, so a sterile hybrid shows the parents are different species.
Answer: 12 chromosomes; diploid numbers are even because chromosomes come in pairs.
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