A Remarkable DiscoveryOrdinarily, Messor ibericus colonies function through a hybrid system: queens must mate with M. structor males to produce workers, while mating with their own species’ males produces only new queens. However, a paradox became apparent following the identification of dozens of thriving M. ibericus colonies that researchers found living in regions without any nearby M. structor populations. Further laboratory experiments showed that nearly 10% of eggs laid by isolated M. ibericus queens contained M. structor males. “Usually, during fertilization, the genetic material of the ova mixes with the genetic material of the sperm to give birth to the embryo,” Romiguier told The Debrief. “Here, the genetic material of the ova is eliminated at some point, leading to an ova with just the genetic material of the father that will develop into a clonal male.”Romiguier likens this to how the process of artificial cloning in the lab would work, by eliminating the genetic material of an ova before injecting the genetic material of another individual in order to clone it.