On the position of parthenogenetic vertebrates in the evolutionary flow and the applicability of species concept to them

The review is devoted to the analysis of literature sources considering the concepts of "species" and its criteria, "speciation", "reticulate evolution" and "Darwinian evolution", "divergence", "hybridization", and "parthenogenesis". The evolutionary fate and place of parthenogenetic organisms (in particular, among vertebrates) in the general evolutionary flow are considered. The reasons for the predominance of bisexual reproduction despite the obvious energetic and quantitative benefits of parthenogenesis are analysed. The applicability of the term "species" to parthenogenetic organisms is considered, considering their discrepancy with the main (genetic and reproductive) species criteria according to most concepts.