Study confirms decades-long assumption about rare ant species

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7777980

A new study has now provided the first proof of an ant species that lacks both workers and males and consists exclusively of queens.

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  • reallykindasorta@slrpnk.netEnglish
    20·
    2 days ago

    Cloning!

    Note: Typically ‘workers’ are non sexually reproducing females for ants

    They then analysed the queen ants under a microscope and found that their mating structures were not used, essentially indicating that the offspring were all clones.

    After observing multiple colonies and multiple populations of the species, researchers confirmed that the species completely lacked workers and males.

    “Our data therefore suggest that the life history of T. kinomurai is characterised by the unique combination of workerless parasitism and parthenogenesis, i.e., the ability to produce female offspring from unfertilised eggs,” scientists wrote in the study published in the journal Current Biology.

    • protist@mander.xyzEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      Yeah I read it, I’m saying that if an animal is only reproducing via cloning forever, it’s an evolutionary dead end, because they will have completely lost the ability to adapt to environmental changes

      • gid@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        13·
        1 day ago

        Not necessarily: mutations will still happen. But there will not be any genetic crossing over that will contribute to greater variance.

        • protist@mander.xyzEnglish
          2·
          1 day ago

          How many animals can you name that reproduce only asexually? The rate of evolution in an asexually reproducing species will always be significantly slower than a species that reproduces sexually, and over time it will be out-competed.

          • gid@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            4·
            19 hours ago

            The rate of evolution in an asexually reproducing species will always be significantly slower than a species that reproduces sexually, and over time it will be out-competed

            Again: not necessarily. That there are still asexually-producing organisms suggests that it’s not enough of a disadvantage for the environment they’re in.

            This form of reproduction can also be an advantage: the rate of reproduction tends to be faster and more offspring are produced. In the case of this organism, instead of one queen producing all the offspring, every ant is able to produce offspring.

            tl;dr: it isn’t the case that sexual reproduction is always favoured over asexual reproduction. Evolutionary pressure isn’t fixed like that.

            • protist@mander.xyzEnglish
              1·
              15 hours ago

              Again, what other animals are there that reproduce only asexually? Of course there can be advantages to reproducing asexually, however every other multicellular animal that does it also reproduces sexually at times, because those that don’t reproduce sexually have gone extinct