US EditionAnt Queens Produce Offspring of Two Different Species, Stunning Scientists
Messor ibericus queens produce both their own and Messor structor males through androgenesis cloning to ensure mating options, a genetic adaptation in southern European ants.
6 Articles
6 Articles
One queen ant, two species: the discovery that reshapes what ‘family’ means in nature
The Iberian harvester ant is able to give birth to ants from two different species. Wikimedia, CC BY-SAImagine a mum who can have children from two different species. Family gatherings would be interesting, to say the least. In the insect world, this is no joke. A new study published in Nature shows that queens of the Iberian harvester ant (Messor ibericus) routinely lay eggs of not just their own kind, but also of males of another species, Mess…
Crazy Evolution: A European kind of ant clones males of another to exploit them. Why also use their own people for it?
There are living beings that can clone themselves again and again in nature. However, an ant queen surpasses all: she not only gets her own offspring, but also clones a strange speciesThe reproduction of ants is a complex undertaking: after mating, the queen lays both fertilized eggs from which workers hatch, and unfertilized eggs from which winged males develop. However, the harvest ant Messor ibericus drives the complexity to a new level – and…
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