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A queen ant (formally known as a gyne) is an adult, reproducing female ant in an ant colony; she is usually the mother of all the other ants in that colony. Some female ants, such as the Cataglyphis, do not need to mate to produce offspring, reproducing through asexual parthenogenesis or cloning, and all of those offspring will be female. [1]
Obligate parthenogenesis is the process in which organisms exclusively reproduce through asexual means. [39] Many species have transitioned to obligate parthenogenesis over evolutionary time. Well documented transitions to obligate parthenogenesis have been found in numerous metazoan taxa, albeit through highly diverse mechanisms.
These ants get the benefits of both asexual and sexual reproduction—the daughters who can reproduce (the queens) have all of the mother's genes, while the sterile workers whose physical strength and disease resistance are important are produced sexually. [14] [15]
Females of species have the ability to reproduce asexually, without sperm from a male. The process is called parthenogenesis, from the Greek words for “virgin” and “birth.”
Accordingly, M. smithii consists of a mosaic of sexually and asexually reproducing populations. [3] In asexual populations all ants in a single colony are female clones of the queen. [3] Inside the colony, the ants cultivate a garden of fungus grown with pieces of dead vegetable matter, dead insects, and insect droppings. [6] [7]
Asexual reproduction is the primary form of reproduction for single-celled organisms such as archaea and bacteria. Many eukaryotic organisms including plants, animals, and fungi can also reproduce asexually. [1]
Here they produce round-bodied aphids which proceed to feed on grass roots and reproduce asexually. Both round-bodied and flattened morphs can reproduce parthenogenetically, producing either form of offspring, and it is unclear what factors trigger the production of one morph in preference to another. [3] [4]
This specialized fungus can no longer reproduce on its own and needs the ants to survive. The fungi produce gongylidia, which are like little nutrient-filled powerhouses for ants.