Ant Queen Defies Biology: Producing Male Offspring from a Different Species!

Biologists usually believe that a female will produce offspring of her own species. But the European ant species Messor ibericus is challenging that idea. Its queens can give birth to two types of sons: one looks like iberricus, and the other is a mix of Messor structor, another species. Researchers have named this fascinating process “xenoparity,” meaning “to give birth to the foreign.”

How Does This Work?

A study led by Jonathan Romiguier at the University of Montpellier uncovered these surprising findings while researching European harvester ants. Their genetic tests revealed worker ants with traits from both ibericus and structor, even in areas where structor males weren’t present. To figure out what was happening, they brought colonies into the lab. They discovered that from one queen, two males hatched: one was a typical ibericus, and the other, a nearly hairless structor.

This meant that the queen wasn’t just producing her own kind. She was also creating another species, even though the two have been separate for over five million years.

When researchers placed the structor males into a regular structor colony, they were rejected and killed. The reason? They carried the pheromones of ibericus, which are crucial for ant communication.

Why Do They Clone?

This behavior is unique. When iberricus queens mate with their own species, all their offspring become queens. This raises a problem—colonies need worker ants too. Breeding with structor helps solve this issue. If no structor male is available, the queen can simply create one herself using androgenesis. Unlike typical reproduction, this allows her to use stored structor sperm, resulting in a male that is genetically different yet still looks similar to ibericus.

What Does This Mean for Species?

This strange ant behavior makes us rethink what it means to be a species. Some argue that ibericus and structor create a superorganism, with each species playing a role in their joint life cycle. Others suggest that ibericus is, in a way, domesticating structor for reproduction.

Interestingly, this could be compared to the evolutionary origin of mitochondria. Millions of years ago, certain bacteria began living inside larger organisms and eventually became part of their cells. Similarly, ibericus queens integrate foreign genetic material into their reproductive processes.

These findings serve as a reminder of the complexities of the natural world. Just when we think we understand biological principles, nature surprises us. Evolution is not as straightforward as it seems; it’s constantly adapting and finding new strategies for survival.

For those interested in further reading, the study was published in Nature. You can find it here.

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