Single-Specimen Species: Difference between revisions

Obviously different from the [[One-Gender Race]] as there's only one specimen, and the concept of gender may not even apply. Also different from [[Last of His Kind]], as that implies the existence of more of the same species in the past, or [[A Kind of One]], where a whole species is known by the name of its most famous member, who may initially have been this.

 

 

Not to be confused with [[Only You Can Repopulate My Race]] (which is ecologically implausible for [[Adam and Eve Plot|entirely different reasons]]).

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* [http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Buyon The Buyon] from ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', which could resist a Kamehameha in a relatively early stage of the series, was present only in a "boss tower" surrounded by an ecosystem in which it couldn't survive ([[Fridge Logic]] can be an important part of this trope — in this case, how did they bring the creature into the tower, and where from?). No other specimen ever appears again for the whole series, but it's interesting to see what would have happened if invaders had come across others of the same species — if others existed at all.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

** It is suggested that the Watcher is one of the "nameless things" Gandalf mentions that live deep, deep below Moria. This one just happened to find its way to the surface somehow.

{{quote|''"The Halflings, cap'n, they will na take the strain"''

''"Strider, we've got to get out of this snow. Legolas, did you get a reading on that creature?"''

''"Do you know what it is?" ... "I believe I said it was unknown, Dr Gimli. Logically, if I knew what it was, then it [[Captain Obvious|wouldn't be unknown]]."''

''"Cap'n, we're in some sort of temporal warp, stretching and deforming the plot. The snow should take place a day before our encounter with this beastie." ... "Boromir, put on that red armour..."'' }}

** In the ''[[Mithgar]]'' books, which started as Tolkien fanfic complete with pseudo-Moria and pseudo-Watcher, there is eventually an explanation both for the ecology and how such a huge monster got into the isolated lake - it's a kraken, they're part of a [[Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism]] with dragons, and a dragon flew by and dropped it into the lake to annoy the dwarves. {{spoiler|The dwarves manage to kill it by breaking the dam and draining the lake.}}

* The title "character" in ''[[The Illuminatus Trilogy|The Illuminatus Trilogy: Leviathan]]'' is a gigantic single-celled organism at the bottom of the ocean, a result of the first cell division that just got bigger and bigger while the rest of life on Earth developed into multicellular organisms. {{spoiler|It's actually just a metaphor for the State. Straight out of Thomas Hobbes' article of the same name.}}

* Adam in [[The Bible]] qualified, before Eve entered the picture. Not to mention [[God]] himself, of course.

* The Incredibly Deadly Viper in ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]''

* Tigger from [[Winnie the Pooh]].

 

* A number of entities and creatures in the various ''[[Star Trek]]'' series.

** ''On [[Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series]]''

*** The Telepathic Pitcher Plant, a giant space monster that would [[Mind Control]] the crews of passing starships to fly into its mouth so it could eat the ship whole.

*** The Nebula Creature (a massive organism that Voyager mistook for a nebula.)

* One episode of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' had Marshall and Lily discover a small animal living in their apartment that had the characteristics of both a cockroach and a mouse: they dub it a cockamouse. No such creature is ever heard of again after they threw it out the apartment window (don't worry; it can fly).

** The cockamouse turns up in a later episode, in a room in a rundown hotel that Ted stays in for plot-related reasons. He cheerfully reports that it's had babies.

* Tales of the [[Loch Ness Monster]].

** Unless it actually is a type of aquatic dinosaur, if it exists. That would make it a [[Last of His Kind]] scenario.

* Some long-extinct species are known from only one fossil (hence a single specimen), which can make it difficult to know which features were common to the whole species and which were specific to the organism; for example, the specimen may have had a genetic disorder, or may be younger (and hence smaller) than average. Also, even after other fossils are uncovered, the original discovery [[A Kind of One|may be so iconic]] that it is forever tied to the species, especially if the original has a name: far more people know about "Lucy" than about ''Australopithecus afarensis''.

* These examples overlap with [[Last of His Kind]]

 

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[[Category:Index of Exact Trope Titles]]

[[Category:Solitary Tropes]]

[[Category:Artistic License Biology]]

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]