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Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.
Queen Iberian harvester ants (Messor ibericus) can give birth to ants of their own species (left) and, using a cloning trick, offspring of a different one (Messor structor, right). Credit: Jonathan Romiguier, Yannick Juvé, Laurent Soldati
A common type of ant in Europe breaks a fundamental rule in biology: its queens can produce male offspring that are a whole different species. These queen Iberian harvester ants (Messor ibericus) are sexual parasites that rely on the sperm of males of the ant species Messor structor. They use this sperm to breed an army of robust worker ants, which are hybrids of the two species.
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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02807-0
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