Researchers have uncovered an unusual survival strategy in Iberian harvester ants that turns basic biology on its head: The queens can produce eggs that develop into two different ant species. A team ...

The whole point of reproduction is that you produce more of your own species, right? Well, not exactly, and not if you are an Iberian harvester ant (Messor ibericus). Amazingly, this ant can propagate ...

Worker ants perform important tasks like gathering food, taking care of eggs and larvae and nest building. However, some species of ants cannot produce workers through reproductive means with their ...

The Iberian harvester ant is able to give birth to ants from two different species. Wikimedia, CC BY-SA The researchers even coined a word for it, xenoparity, meaning “foreign birth”. It pushes the ...

MONTPELLIER, France — Researchers have uncovered an unusual survival strategy in Iberian harvester ants that turns basic biology on its head: The queens can produce eggs that develop into two ...