'Incest' insects

Scientists have discovered that cotton mealybug (Icerya purchasi) has a very special sex life related to bloodline. Females are able to fertilize their eggs without mating with males.

Previously, entomologists believed that cotton mealybugs fertilized eggs themselves because they were hermaphrodites, that is, the reproductive organs of both females and males.

However, researchers at the University of Oxford (UK) have recently discovered that female cotton mealybugs do not actually fertilize their eggs but use a parasitic tissue that has just been born.

'This tissue comes from their father's unused sperm. Their father found a sneaky way to have more children by mating with his children , 'said researcher Laura Ross.

Cotton mealybug

When parasitic tissue becomes common in the female cotton mealybug community, females tend to give birth through 'parasitic fathers' , rather than to living males.

For children, mating with close relatives ensures that they transmit more copies of their genes to future generations. However, males increasingly find it difficult to mate.

Cotton mealybug was first discovered in 1878 (on acacia in New Zealand). This insect then grows around the world and is abundant in citrus (orange, grapefruit, lemon, tangerine .).