F is for... oh dear...
Bio Geek Fact of the Day:
As I look for a species in the letter F whose species epithet is the same as the genus name (so the full species name is the same name twice... see previous posts, beginning with Alces alces), I encounter the genus Felis .
Felis is the genus of the small cats.
For some reason, I always forget that the proper species name for the species that includes our domesticated friends is Felis silvestris. Has been since the name was invented in 1775, by a guy named Schreber if anyone cares. (Domesticated cats are sometimes given the subspecies distinction Felis silvestris catus). And I know that I know this. But I forget. And every time I am reminded, I wonder, is this why the cartoon cat is named Sylvester? I do what every casual researcher does, I Google it. Numerous people have speculated that this is the case, but I'm not seeing anything I would consider reliable reporting.
While I'm on cats, I'll mention an interesting cat genetics tidbit. I think sometime last year I pointed out some of the cat coat color genetics. Numerous genes can influence the coat color. There is one gene that if it has a mutation, causes loss of pigmentation so the cat hair is white and the cat's eyes are blue (blue is the non-pigmented iris color). Interestingly, this mutation has another effect on physiology: cats with this mutation also lose all or most of their hearing. When a gene affects multiple characteristics like this (i.e, affecting coloration and affecting hearing, which you'd normally think of as two separate traits) it is said to be pleiotrophic. Pleitrophy is probably much more common than the simple one gene = one trait examples we learn/teach in intro biology.
As I look for a species in the letter F whose species epithet is the same as the genus name (so the full species name is the same name twice... see previous posts, beginning with Alces alces), I encounter the genus Felis .
Felis is the genus of the small cats.
For some reason, I always forget that the proper species name for the species that includes our domesticated friends is Felis silvestris. Has been since the name was invented in 1775, by a guy named Schreber if anyone cares. (Domesticated cats are sometimes given the subspecies distinction Felis silvestris catus). And I know that I know this. But I forget. And every time I am reminded, I wonder, is this why the cartoon cat is named Sylvester? I do what every casual researcher does, I Google it. Numerous people have speculated that this is the case, but I'm not seeing anything I would consider reliable reporting.
While I'm on cats, I'll mention an interesting cat genetics tidbit. I think sometime last year I pointed out some of the cat coat color genetics. Numerous genes can influence the coat color. There is one gene that if it has a mutation, causes loss of pigmentation so the cat hair is white and the cat's eyes are blue (blue is the non-pigmented iris color). Interestingly, this mutation has another effect on physiology: cats with this mutation also lose all or most of their hearing. When a gene affects multiple characteristics like this (i.e, affecting coloration and affecting hearing, which you'd normally think of as two separate traits) it is said to be pleiotrophic. Pleitrophy is probably much more common than the simple one gene = one trait examples we learn/teach in intro biology.