A species of ant found scurrying across southern Europe is the first animal found that clones males of another species.
Queen ants in southern Europe produce male clones of an entirely different species — tearing up the playbook of reproductive biology and suggesting we need to rethink our understanding of species barriers.
The workers in Iberian harvester ant (Messor ibericus) colonies are all hybrids, with queens needing to mate with males from a distantly related species, Messor structor, to keep the colony functioning. But researchers found that some Iberian harvester ant populations have no M. structor colonies nearby.
"That was very, very abnormal. I mean, it was kind of a paradox," study co-author Jonathan Romiguier, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Montpellier, told Live Science. The team initially believed there was a sampling issue, but they went on to find 69 regions where this was the case.
We had to face the facts and try to see if there is something special within Messor ibericus colonies," Romiguier said.
In setting out to resolve this paradox, Romiguier and his team found that queen Iberian harvester ants also lay eggs containing male M. structor ants, with these males ultimately fathering the workers. This discovery, published Sept. 3 in the journal Nature, is the first time any animal has been recorded producing offspring from another species as part of their normal life cycle.
"In the early stages, it was kind of a joke in the team," Romiguier said. "But the more we got results, the more it became a hypothesis and not a joke anymore."
www.livescience.com
Queen ants in southern Europe produce male clones of an entirely different species — tearing up the playbook of reproductive biology and suggesting we need to rethink our understanding of species barriers.
The workers in Iberian harvester ant (Messor ibericus) colonies are all hybrids, with queens needing to mate with males from a distantly related species, Messor structor, to keep the colony functioning. But researchers found that some Iberian harvester ant populations have no M. structor colonies nearby.
"That was very, very abnormal. I mean, it was kind of a paradox," study co-author Jonathan Romiguier, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Montpellier, told Live Science. The team initially believed there was a sampling issue, but they went on to find 69 regions where this was the case.
We had to face the facts and try to see if there is something special within Messor ibericus colonies," Romiguier said.
In setting out to resolve this paradox, Romiguier and his team found that queen Iberian harvester ants also lay eggs containing male M. structor ants, with these males ultimately fathering the workers. This discovery, published Sept. 3 in the journal Nature, is the first time any animal has been recorded producing offspring from another species as part of their normal life cycle.
"In the early stages, it was kind of a joke in the team," Romiguier said. "But the more we got results, the more it became a hypothesis and not a joke anymore."
'Almost like science fiction': European ant is the first known animal to clone members of another species
A species of ant found scurrying across southern Europe is the first animal found that clones males of another species.
