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A Chihuahua, a Labrador, and the Limits of Genetic Distance

A Lesson in Lewontin's Fallacy, Quantitative Genetics, and the Limits of FST

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Davide Piffer
Jun 04, 2026
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The image below presents a comparison that, at first glance, seems absurd.

A Chihuahua and a Labrador Retriever differ dramatically in size, anatomy, behavior, and function. One is a tiny companion dog; the other is a large working retriever bred for swimming and carrying game.

Yet their genetic differentiation (FST = 0.116) is almost identical to several…

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