AN ARMY OF GRASSHOPPERS HAS taken over Australia. Marching across the continent from west to east they've conquered new lands faster than rival species. The secret to their success? They've given up sex. Warramaba virgo, the matchstick grasshopper, is an all-female species. There are no males in existence. Where most animals have two sexes that combine their genes when they reproduce, this species has evolved to cheat this fundamental process. Instead it reproduces solely by cloning (an egg can develop into an embryo without fertilisation).
She joins an exclusive female-only club that includes a bunch of other insects along with an assortment of vertebrates - fish, lizards and amphibians - and a host of spineless wonders only visible to microscope owners, but whose sex lives (or lack thereof) are exploding evolutionary paradigms.
Denne historien er fra August 2022-utgaven av BBC Wildlife.
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Denne historien er fra August 2022-utgaven av BBC Wildlife.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Does cloning create identical copies?
EMBRYOS ARE MADE OF STEM CELLS that divide to give rise to different types of cells, everything from skin to brain cells. Scientists once thought that reproductive cloning creating a genetically identical copy of an individual organism - would be impossible without using stem cells and that the path leading to mature 'differentiated' cells was irreversible. But clawed frogs proved them wrong...
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