The split gill mushroom, Schizophyllum commune, is a species estimated to have 20,000 or more distinct sexes. Image via Doug Bowman from DeKalb, Illinois, USA.
Coprinellus disseminatus, a white-capped mushroom, has 143, each able to find a partner among the 142 others. The hairy, fan-shape fungus Schizophyllum commune boasts more than 23,000 mating types (though its more intricate reproductive strategy means that not every type can mate with every other).
The threes sexes of the Pleodorina starrii algae are male, female, and a third sex that researchers call bisexual in reference to the fact that it can produce both male and female sex cells in a single genotype and exists due to normal expression of the species' genes.
There exist only two sexes, which are fundamentally rooted in the binary classification between sperm and ova. Males have the function of producing small gametes (sperm), and females large gametes (ova).
IF HUMANS were mushrooms, finding a date would be much easier. Whereas we muddle by with just two sexes, the fungi have 36,000, all of which can mate with each other, in a mysterious process involving underground fronds. So why don't humans have such a varied sex life?
The split gill mushroom, Schizophyllum commune, is a species estimated to have 20,000 or more distinct sexes. Image via Doug Bowman from DeKalb, Illinois, USA.
One species of fungi, Schizophyllum commune, really shines when it comes to gender diversity. The white, fan-shaped mushroom has more than 23,000 different sexual identities, a result of widespread differentiation in the genetic locations that govern its sexual behavior.
Tetrahymena thermophila is a single cell covered with a coat of hairs called cilia. The cilia wave back and forth, powering it through the water. Its seven sexes are rather prosaically named I, II, III, IV, V, VI and VII.
Roughgarden posits that while animals come in only two sexes, many species have more than two genders. How can this be? Sex refers to the size of the gametes, and, quibbling exceptions aside, sexually reproducing species have only two types of gamete, big and small (eggs and sperm).
There are two biological sexes – male and female. Intersex is a term used for disorders of sexual development (DSD). Gender – the roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society at a given time considers appropriate for men and women to divide labour.
Scientists perceive homosexual behavior in animals to different degrees. Multiple current sources from the 2010s and later state that same-sex sexual behavior has been observed in over 1,500 species.
Hermaphroditic animals—mostly invertebrates such as worms, bryozoans (moss animals), trematodes (flukes), snails, slugs, and barnacles—are usually parasitic, slow-moving, or permanently attached to another animal or plant.
Cross-Dressing Cephalopods
Cephalopods, specifically octopuses and squids, often employ a variety of gender-bending techniques when mating.
While scientists have long suspected that certain species of fungi have thousands or even tens of thousands of biological sexes, the new research employed cutting edge genetic tools to confirm the extreme diversity of sexes in Trichaptum mushrooms.
Reishi mushroom has been used for thousands of years in traditional Eastern medicine. The ancient cultures that used reishi mushroom in their healing practices held reishi in such high regard that they referred to it as the “mushroom of immortality”.
In the same way as a sperm from a male and an egg from a female join together to form an embryo in most animals, yeast cells have two sexes that coordinate how they reproduce. These are called “mating types” and, rather than male or female, an individual yeast cell can either be mating type “a” or “alpha”.
In the great majority of tunicates, mollusks, and earthworms, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which either partner can act as the female or male. Hermaphroditism is also found in some fish species, but is rare or absent in other vertebrate groups.
Those species that exhibit sexual reproduction have an evolutionary advantage over "cloners" in that there is more diversity in their offspring. This diversity allows the species to adapt more quickly to a changing environment, or to increase its chance of survival in the existing one.
Introducing students to animals that are non-binary, as opposed to the “female and male” gender binary, helps them to understand that there are many genders and that nature displays great diversity. There are other examples of animals who could be called non- binary, such as cardinals or blue lobsters.
In some very rare cases, animal species reproduce via parthenogenesis exclusively. One such species is the desert grassland whiptail lizard, all of which are female. In certain insects, salamanders, and flatworms, the presence of sperm serves to trigger parthenogenesis.
But nature does have multiple examples of more than two "mating types" within a species; clam shrimp have a male as well as two varieties of hermaphrodite, which either self-fertilize or mate with males but cannot mate with each other.
Females are larger in many species of insects, many spiders, many fish, many reptiles, owls, birds of prey and certain mammals such as the spotted hyena, and baleen whales such as blue whale.
They also discovered that Schizophyllum commune has more than 28,000 sexes, an adaptation that minimises the risk of siblings mating, and therefore maximises the genetic diversity by achieving nearly 100% outbreeding with new genetic stock.
Pleurotus djamor, commonly known as the pink oyster mushroom, is a species of fungus in the family Pleurotaceae.
Rugosomyces carneus, Pink Domecap mushroom.