Messor Ibericus Ants Clone Another Species: A Biological Anomaly

Extraordinary Discovery in Ant Reproduction

• 💡 Scientists discovered Messor ibericus queens laying eggs that hatch into Messor structor males, a different ant species.
• 🎯 This finding, published in the journal Nature, upends a fundamental biological assumption that offspring belong to the same species.
• 🧬 Messor structor diverged from Messor ibericus over 5 million years ago, highlighting the genetic distance between them.

Evidence of Cross-Species Cloning

• 🔍 Messor ibericus colonies were found with hybrid workers in regions lacking wild Messor structor, such as Sicily.
• 🔬 Genetic analysis revealed two distinct male morphs within ibericus colonies: hairy (ibericus) and hairless (structor).
• 🔑 Messor structor males in ibericus colonies possess ibericus mitochondrial genomes (maternally inherited) but structor nuclear genomes.
• ✅ Lab experiments confirmed that ibericus queens directly produce structor males from their eggs, with 11.5% of eggs having structor nuclear genomes.

Unique Reproductive Mechanism

• 🔄 Messor ibericus queens can produce four types of offspring: ibericus males (via parthenogenesis), ibericus queens (via ibericus fertilization), hybrid workers (via structor fertilization), and structor male clones.
• 🧬 For structor male clones, the mother's DNA is removed from the nucleus after fertilization, leaving only the structor male's genetic material.
• 🌱 This strategy allows Messor ibericus to expand its geographical range by domestically producing the necessary males, overcoming the limitations of obligate sperm parasitism.

Challenging Species Definitions

• 💬 The researchers propose the term "xenoparasitism" to describe this unique cross-species reproductive cycle.
• ⚠️ The cloned Messor structor males exhibit physical differences (less hair) and cannot interbreed with wild structor ants, suggesting a form of domestication.
• 🧩 This phenomenon challenges traditional definitions of a species, as the cloned males have mixed genetic origins and are reliant on another species for reproduction.
• 🚀 The cloned males are likened to organelles at a superorganism level, playing a crucial, integrated role within the ibericus colony, similar to endosymbiosis.