<
https://theconversation.com/this-australian-grasshopper-gave-up-sex-250-000-years-ago-and-its-doing-fine-184241>
"Most animals on Earth have two sexes, male and female, that combine and mix
their genes when they reproduce. We are so accustomed to this state of affairs
that the existence of all-female species that don’t have sex, but instead
reproduce by cloning, comes as a great surprise.
The beautiful green grasshopper
Warramaba virgo is one of these rare
“parthenogenetic” species, in which an egg can develop into an embryo without
being fertilised by a sperm. It lives in the southern parts of the Australian
arid zone, where it feeds on mulga trees and other shrubs and bushes in the
summertime.
We have studied these grasshoppers for the past 18 years to understand how they
developed asexual reproduction, and how the change has affected their ability
to survive and reproduce.
Our new research published in
Science shows
W. virgo arose about 250,000
years ago from a cross between two different sexually reproducing species of
grasshopper, and giving up sex appears to have had no negative repercussions
for them whatsoever."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
