Rhonda J. Pomerantz, MD is a practicing Dermatologist (Skin Specialist) in New York, NY. Dr. Pomerantz graduated from New York University School of Medicine in 1989 and has been in practice for 28 years. She completed a residency at Suny Health Science Center. Dr. Pomerantz also specializes in Internal Medicine.
Identical twins form when one egg has been fertilised by one sperm and the zygote splits into two. This happens at the very earliest stage of development, when the zygote is no more than a cluster of a few cells.
Article Body. Because fraternal, or dizygotic, twins are 2 separate fertilized eggs, they usually develop 2 separate amniotic sacs, placentas, and supporting structures. Identical, or monozygotic, twins may or may not share the same amniotic sac, depending on how early the single fertilized egg divides into 2. If twins are a boy and a girl, clearly they are fraternal twins, as they do not have the same DNA. A boy has XY chromosomes and a girl has XX chromosomes. Girl-boy twins occur when one X egg is fertilized with an X sperm, and a Y sperm fertilizes the other X egg.