
Female termites found to clone themselves via asexual reproduction - lelf
http://phys.org/news/2014-11-female-termites-clone-asexual-reproduction.html
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jessriedel
This is an excellent format for popular science reporting: the article is
followed _immediately_ by an abstract and a link to the original paper. Wow.
How long has phys.org been doing this?

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Pxtl
If the species is reproducing fully asexually, isn't that an evolutionary
dead-end? Sexual reproduction is a huge evolutionary benefit. Many species can
do parthenogenesis as a fallback, but if it's the _primary_ form of
reproduction then the evolution of the species is hamstrung.

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whyenot
> Sexual reproduction is a huge evolutionary benefit.

It's not clear that this is the case. Many bacteria, fungi and plants do not
appear to reproduce sexually and are highly successful.

Evolution by natural selection does require that there is variation between
individuals, but there is variation even in asexually reproducing species due
to mutations and errors in DNA replication.

~~~
peterwwillis
And I think it might work more favorably for ants anyway due to the nature of
the colonies.

For example, with the 'zombie ant fungus', once the colony detects an
infection it will remove infected ants or prevent infections from continuing.
Ants are remarkably good at clearing their nests of infections.

Naturally this kind of 'communal parasite insulation' would preclude the queen
from having to constantly adapt to new threats, and can rely on simpler
functions such as mutation to adapt to environmental changes.

And anyway, this asexual reproduction is (purportedly) only for queens. The
males+queen still participate in sexual reproduction for workers. In addition,
ants send their oldest members out the farthest from the nest, so in reality
they're constantly being replenished by new variations.

[http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-zombie-ant-fungus-is-
ev...](http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-zombie-ant-fungus-is-even-more-
sinister-than-you-thought)

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reubenmorais
Life, uh, finds a way.

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chanandler_bong
Could someone tell me please who first suggested the idea of reproduction
without sex?

...your wife?

(bonus points to name the movie)

~~~
bbcbasic
Rightly down-voted. How dare you have a sense of humor.

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gesman
Would it be considered cheating making love to your girlfriend's clone?

