Mar 26, 2024
I just realized that Messor barbarus can't sting. And now I need to rethink something I thought was obvious about seed collecting ants.
Pogonomyrmex and Veromessor (the genuses of harvester ants we have in the Americas) can sting. It seems that much like "Army Ants" the group "harvester ants" isn't as cohesive as I thought.
That said... they are somewhat related, both practice social hybridogenesis.
I'm stunned. Ants shock me every single day! They can't keep getting away with this!
Please don't ask me to explain this yet I'm still trying to understand what the heck these ants are even doing.
Lavanchy and Schwander introduce hybridogenesis, a form of reproduction whereby in hybrids between closely related species only the genome o