When it comes time for aging queens of the Japanese species Reticulitermes speratus to produce replacement queens, they don’t bother to mate with their king and instead produce their daughters asexually, in a process called parthenogenesis.
Even when the queen dies, she maintains her genetic contribution to the colony. “This gives genetic momentum to the expression ‘Long live the queen,’” according to University Maryland Entomologist Barbara Thorne, who was interviewed for an article in Science Now.
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Source: Science Now