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Asexual ants discovered

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Friday, April 17, 2009

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According to research undertaken at the University of Texas at Austin (and recently published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B Journal), a species of ant (Mycocepurus smithii) found in the Amazon reproduces asexually. The species is thought to be the first such species discovered.

The possibility that Mycocepurus smithii reproduces asexually had previously been suggested by Hermógenes Fernandez-Marin, "The possibility that females reproduce parthenogenetically is suggested by the conspicuous lack of males in reproductive colonies."

Molecular genetic results reported in the Royal Society Proceedings indicate that members of Mycocepurus smithii colonies are genetically identical, consistent with asexual reproduction. Anna Himler, the biologist leading the research commented that "In social insects there are a number of different types of reproduction," but continued that "... this species has evolved its own unusual mode."

Further research into when the species became asexual and why this change occurred is being undertaken.

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  This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License


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