Half-sib mating structures.

All ways in which all matings in a population can be between half-sibs under a generalization of regular systems of inbreeding are characterized for both finite and infinite populations. A model of random half-sib mating is developed and analyzed, and the asymptotic configuration of populations subject to it is described. The classical model of half-sib mating which ensues from the standard definition of regular systems of inbreeding is only one of many ways a population can propagate by half-sib mating, and a wide range of genetic identity is possible dependent on which half-sib mating structure governs a population.