The way "species" has always been described to me is that a species is different if the two animals cannot have fertile offspring, with the caveat that language is imprecise and sometimes different species can produce fertile hybrids. For example, "pizzly/grolar" bears, which are grizzly/polar bear hybrids produce fertile offspring. Another example is coywolves, which are wolf coyote hybrids. So, I was wondering if there is a specific name for fertile hybrids. The Wikipedia page on Hybrids doesn't specifically talk about fertile hybrids as a group. To be clear, to me, "fertile hybrids" is a sufficient descriptor. I just wanted to know if there was a more scientific term that is used in place of "fertile hybrids." My guess is that there is not, because I think I would have come across it by now, but I just wanted to be sure. Thanks.
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1$\begingroup$ "Admixed individual"? there are a variety of archaic and rather nasty words that mean more or less this, but as a society we have thankfully moved away from terms like "bastard"; "mongrel" is equally nasty when referring to people, but seems to still be standard for e.g. dogs. $\endgroup$– Maximilian PressMar 27 at 0:06
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3$\begingroup$ The definition you're using for species there is called the "Biological Species Concept". It has a lot of problems. $\endgroup$– Jack AidleyMar 27 at 7:45
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3$\begingroup$ In animals it is simpler, but in plants fertile hybrids are extremely common in certain families (e.g., Rosaceae) and even hybridogenous apomyctic lineages are often sexually fertile to a certain degree and give birth to new hybridogenous types that cause extremely complicated taxonomy in brambles, dandelions and similar. $\endgroup$– Vladimir F Героям славаMar 28 at 13:57
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$\begingroup$ Not that an exhaustive list is possible, but the hybridisation of neanderthals & homo sapiens is of particular interest, & undergone recent dynamic change in understanding. & the ape chromosome fusion that seems to have initiated the speciation of hominids, is an interesting example of a highly unlikely set of chance circumstances, leading to a significant biological change - a punctuation in equilibrium, rather than steady mutation. $\endgroup$– CriglCraglMar 28 at 22:17
2 Answers
I'm not aware of a single word term in use, "fertile hybrid" seems like a reasonable descriptor. Something like 4000 hits on Google Scholar so it appears it's definitely used, hybrid fertility matches about 3000. In cases where the hybridization is quite well known to be fertile, I'd expect people to drop "fertile" and just speak of hybrids, especially among plants (which may or may not be designated the same species; species are just labels and can be messy).
Another relevant term is introgression, which occurs when hybrids breed with one of the parent species and therefore has the ultimate effect of transferring genes from one species to another. Describing introgression as occurring also may clarify a bit what sort of hybrid fertility you're talking about, because it may be that hybrids are only fertile with one of the parent species, or either parent species but not another hybrid.
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2$\begingroup$ Another term related to introgression are hybrid swarms. Without introgression we can get hybrid speciation. $\endgroup$ Mar 28 at 19:29
Genetic viability is the ability of the genes present to allow a cell, organism or population to survive and reproduce. The term is generally used to mean the chance or ability of a population to avoid the problems of inbreeding. Less commonly genetic viability can also be used in respect to a single cell or on an individual level.
