Male and queen little fire ants clone after gender battle: scientists

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2005

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AFP) — A type of fire ant found in North and Central America, the Galapagos Islands and west Africa has become capable of cloning itself after what appears to be a gender battle, according to Swiss research published in the science journal Nature.

While queen and male "wasmannia auropunctata," or little fire ants, were capable of normal reproduction, they each resorted to cloning as well, said Laurent Keller, a member of the team at the University of Lausanne which made the discovery.

"We have found the first case of cloning reproduction of males," she said, outlining a reproductive battle between male and queen ants that may have evolved over thousands of years.

Queen little fire ants use male sperm to produce female worker ants,...