One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants

2025/09/03 by Yannick Juvé, Célia Lutrat, Ainhi D. Ha +15 · 4 voices · 12 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Biology #Cloning (programming) #Ecology #Evolutionary biology #Gene #Genetics #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Lineage (genetic) #Obligate #Plant Reproductive Biology #Plant and animal studies #Zoology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09425-w

published in Nature 646(8084), 372-377 (Nature Portfolio)

openalex publication_date 2025/09/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Abstract Living organisms are assumed to produce same-species offspring 1,2 . Here, we report a shift from this norm in Messor ibericus , an ant that lays individuals from two distinct species. In this life cycle, females must clone males of another species because they require their sperm to produce the worker caste. As a result, males from the same mother exhibit distinct genomes and morphologies, as they belong to species that diverged over 5 million years ago. The evolutionary history of this system appears as sexual parasitism 3 that evolved into a natural case of cross-species cloning 4,5 , resulting in the maintenance of a male-only lineage cloned through distinct species’ ova. We term females exhibiting this reproductive mode as xenoparous, meaning they give birth to other species as part of their life cycle.

Citations

• PLINK: A Tool Set for Whole-Genome Association and Population-Based Linkage Analyses
• Sex Determination in the Hymenoptera

Cited by

• ‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother
• DNA Barcode Reference Library for European Ants: A Roadmap for Phylogeography and Species Discovery
• Why just fly?
• A new species of Messor from Bulgaria and redescription of the gyne of M. oertzeni Forel, 1910 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)
• Gonosomic algebras: an extension of gonosomal algebras
• DNA barcoding of Messor ants of Bulgaria with insights into their taxonomic diversity
• “Ethological non-entity” no more? The role of the male in social Hymenoptera
• Vibroacoustic signalling of the Maltese Messor ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), with geographical insights into M. ibericus
• Why just fly? [europepmc]
• A new species of Messor from Bulgaria and redescription of the gyne of M. oertzeni Forel, 1910 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). [europepmc]
• DNA Barcode Reference Library for European Ants: A Roadmap for Phylogeography and Species Discovery. [europepmc]
• DNA barcoding of Messor ants of Bulgaria with insights into their taxonomic diversity. [europepmc]

Discussions

• Just based on the timing this is without a doubt subtweeting Juvé, Y., Lutrat, C., Ha, A. et al. "One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants" Nature (2025), right? [bsky, 64 points, 3 comments]
• Journal Club Fri 19 Sep 12pm, Rm BIG13 Phoebe Keddell: Your Pet Ants Pet Ant doi.org/10.1038/s415... Zohaib Rana: What the fork? A longitudinal quality improvement study tracking cutlery numbers in a [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]
• Sources : L’étude scientifique en question : Juvé, Y., Lutrat, C., Ha, A. et al. 2025. One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants. Nature. doi.org/10.1038/s415... [bsky, 1 points, 1 comments]
• Here, we report that this rule has been transgressed by Messor ibericus ants, with females producing individuals from two different species. doi.org/10.1038/s415... [bsky, 0 points, 1 comments]

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