Sorry to pimp my work...but I wrote an essay on this very subject. It was geared towards explaining Trek hybrids--but also addresses this issue:
http://www.adastrafanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=267
I very much liked your perspective on the subject of “humanoid” development as well as cross-species breeding and hybrids. It makes sense both biologically and "in universe". A retrovirus which could affect different species at a later stage in development and guide them towards a more “humanoid” evolution would make a lot more sense than tinkering with the original genetic code, as an adaptation which would be extremely advantageous given one set of circumstances could be extremely maladaptive given the opposite circumstances. Hardly one size fits all.
However, I must agree with Myasishchev on the subject of the Bajorans and the Cardassians sharing a genus. If we look at the different hybrids throughout Star Trek you can notice that for the majority of the cases it is reasonable to assume that the babies were expected and even planned. Certainly Spock, Deanna, B'Elanna, Naomi Wildman, Linnis Paris etc… were well loved individuals (even if Sarek denied it on occasion) and there is no reason to assume that Amanda Grayson, Lwaxana, Miral, Samantha Wildman, or even Kes weren’t popping ovarian resequencing enzymes (ORE) like crazy in order to be able to conceive their hybrid babies. Even in the case of Ba’el, Tokath and Gi’ral seemed to be in a happy, loving relationship and there is no reason to doubt that she was conceived with anything less than full participation of her parents.
As far as I am able to tell there were only five cases of hybrids being conceived where we were led to believe that they were unwanted or unexpected: Alexander, Miral Paris, Sela, Tora Ziyal, and Mika’s baby (girl from the Pagh Wraith’s Cult). The cases of Alexander and Miral Paris are almost identical and easily explained. In both cases the mother is half-human and half-Klingon while the father is a full-blooded member of the species, Klingon in the case of Worf and human in the case of Tom. That makes the respective offspring 75% of a specific species. Were one to assume that both B’Elanna’s and K'Ehleyr’s mothers underwent ORE therapy to conceive then it is not illogical to assume that the offspring’s own ovaries would produce altered oocytes which would be more amenable to hybridizing with a member of either of the original species, something which both Worf and Tom obligingly provide.
Now, as far as Sela is concerned, although there is no dialog to indicate this, it is not unreasonable to assume that she was not in fact wanted by Tasha Yar. However, once again we have no indication that she did not undergo extensive ORE therapy at the behest of the Romulan for whom she agreed to become consort. The type of person which would force a vanquished enemy to become their consort is also exactly the type of person who would force this consort to bear them a child, be it as an exercise in power or simply out of an honest desire to see his seed spread. This is not unprecedented, and has recently been seen in the Balkans where captured girls were impregnated and not allowed to terminate their pregnancies so as to force them to bear a new generation of their conqueror’s offspring. This gives a whole new and dark dimension to the character of Sela.
In the case of Tora Ziyal and Mika’s baby, however, Dukat is clearly taken by surprise by the conception of the children and although we have no indication as to the reaction of Tora Naprem, Mika clearly appeared to be distressed by the development. It would seem that in these two cases there was no ORE therapy and they were naturally conceived. It is possible that Dukat was lying and that he had surreptitiously been administering ORE’s to both Naprem and Mika, but then what would be the use of acting so surprised when there was no real gain to be had. The argument could be made that it was in Tora Naprem’s best interest to conceive a child with Dukat and so cement her position by his side, so it is not ridiculous to think that she might have been receiving ORE therapy behind Dukat’s back, but without more back story we really cannot venture a guess. However, in Mika’s case it was clearly not in her best interest (personal or spiritual) to conceive and there is no reason to assume that she was undergoing ORE therapy. Although the point can be made that she was the Bajoran equivalent of a Devil Worshipper so her decision-making capacity might have been suspect. Now, assuming that all protestations of surprise were true, then in both cases there was a spontaneous Cardassian/Bajoran cross breeding with no external intervention or ORE therapy. This is characteristic of breeding within the same species or at least the same genus and so lends credence to Myasishchev’s position. Given that only in cases of Cardassian/Bajoran breeding do we have clear evidence that this did occur it is tempting to assume that this is in fact the case.
Well I’m sure that that is way more thought than the producers put into it as they simply wanted advance the storylines but meh……
But if I knew that shrimp was going to be me in a few million (or even few hundred, if it's an artificially generated trascendence) years, maybe I wouldn't eat him.
