November 2, 2025

Cats give birth to kittens and dogs to puppies—simple, right? But ants? Their story is far spicier! A fascinating research paper in Nature from French scientists has uncovered a wild biological twist in ants of the species Messor ibericus. These queen ants don’t just give birth to their own sons—they also produce males of another species called Messor structor! How is that even possible? Let's dive into ant biology first. Ants’ gender depends on their chromosomes. Female ants, like queens and workers, come from fertilised eggs (two chromosome sets), while male ants, called drones, come from unfertilised eggs (one chromosome set). The queen mates once and keeps the sperm safe in a special sac to decide later which eggs get fertilized to become females and which stay unfertilized to become males. Here’s the twist: M. ibericus queens mate with males from both their own and the M. structor species! Eggs fertilized by M. ibericus sperm grow into queens, those fertilized by M. structor sperm become hybrid workers (mix of both species), and unfertilized eggs become M. ibericus drones. But the real brain teaser was discovering how M. ibericus queens produce M. structor drones. Researchers found that these queens cleverly remove their own chromosomes from some eggs either before or right after fertilization. When a chromosome-free egg is fertilized with M. structor sperm, it contains just one set of M. structor chromosomes, turning it into a pure M. structor male! Without this chromosome removal, no M. structor drones would be born. These drones are the secret heroes needed to generate hybrid worker ants in the next generation. Even more jaw-dropping: all M. structor drones in M. ibericus colonies are clones—genetically identical! Long before humans dreamed of cloning, ants had already mastered it. M. ibericus is unique because no other known ant colony includes drones from another species. Scientists suspect that M. ibericus queens carry special genes pushing female offspring toward queens only. By breeding M. structor drones and producing hybrid workers, the colony cleverly controls workforce sterility and caste roles. The researchers wrote, “by producing the required species’ males in their own colonies, M. ibericus has gained a clear advantage, as it maintains obligate hybridisation.” This means these ants have evolved a sharp, life-saving strategy to keep their colonies healthy and varied. They also solved a long puzzle about why all M. ibericus castes live in Spain, Portugal, and Greece, but M. structor ants found there are only males. Other bees and ants stick to one species for all castes; queens, workers, and drones all match. Honeybees even feed special 'royal jelly' to young ones to pick queens. DNA studies further revealed that M. structor drones from M. ibericus nests had M. structor nuclear DNA but M. ibericus mitochondrial DNA—proving the queens’ unique chromosome shuffling. Mitochondria, tiny cell powerhouses, are passed only from mother to offspring, so this mix shows these drones come from M. ibericus queens but look genetically M. structor! Interestingly, these colony-born M. structor males differ from wild ones—they’re less hairy and don’t mate with wild females. So, scientists wonder if these domesticated males might count as a different species, much like how dogs became distinct from wolves. In a savvy comparison, researchers say, “The domesticating species is directly cloning the domesticated one by means of its own egg cytoplasms... Clonal males may thus be regarded as organelles at the superorganism level.” Imagine these cloned males acting like tiny cell parts inside a grand ant ‘body.’ But unlike mitochondria stuck inside cells forever, M. ibericus queens freshen their colonies by mating with wild M. structor males, keeping their hybrid magic alive and healthy. Who knew ants could be such genetic wizards? This brilliant discovery not only cracks a baffling mystery but shows how nature’s creativity is sparkling and wild. From surprising cloning stunts to cross-species family ties, Messor ibericus ants teach us that in nature, nothing is ever just black and white!

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Tags: Ants, Hybridization, Messor Ibericus, Messor Structor, Cloning, Genetics,