Living organisms are assumed to produce same-#species #offspring.

But this is not the case for Messor ibericus, an #ant that lays individuals from two distinct #species.

In this life cycle, females must clone males of another species because they require their sperm to produce the worker caste.

As a result, males from the same mother exhibit distinct genomes and morphologies, as they belong to species that diverged over 5 million years ago.

The evolutionary history of this system appears as sexual parasitism that evolved into a natural case of cross-species cloning, resulting in the maintenance of a male-only lineage cloned through distinct species’ ova.

#biology #evolution
nature.com/articles/s41586-025…

One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature

In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same mother having distinct genomes and morphologies.

^Nature