Messor ibericus

Messor ibericus
Close up of the head of M. ibericus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Genus:	Messor
Species:	M. ibericus
Binomial name
Messor ibericus Santschi, 1931

Messor ibericus, commonly known as the Iberian harvester ant, is a species of harvester ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae found throughout Europe, although they are found mostly in the Iberian Peninsula. ^[1] They prefer open dry areas, such as scrub or grasslands, and feed on a variety of seeds. ^[2]

Description

M. ibericus are reddish brown in colour, workers and queens being 4-9 mm and 9-10 mm in length respectively. ^[1] It has relatively small eyes. ^[2] Males of this species can be distinguished from males of M. structor by the presence of hair (M. structor males are hairless). ^[3]

Xenoparity

Queens of M. ibericus can produce male offspring of the species Messor structor , which is not a sister species, by laying eggs that only contain DNA from M. structor in its nucleus. The nuclear DNA from the egg is removed, only keeping the nuclear DNA of the sperm, resulting in clonal reproduction for the males. This is required because the queen can only produce (female) worker ants using sperm from M. structor, making all workers hybrid. The queen can still create male offspring of her own species, but their sperm cannot produce workers, only queens. ^[3] The term xenoparity was created to describe this ant, denoting production of offspring of a different species in order to support their life cycle. ^[3]

Xenoparity has evolved from a form of sperm parasitism or sperm mutualism, in which one species depend on another's sperm for worker production. This relationship is usually disadvantageous for the species having the dependence as it forces them to live in places where the other species is present, but xenoparity appears to be one solution to the problem. (Some populations of M. ibericus have not yet evolved xenoparity and still require the acquisition of a M. structor male from outside the nest.) ^[3] Among Messor harvester ants, there are many other cases of sperm parasitism. Some have evolved another solution to this problem: reciprocal sperm parasitism, where two species require the sperm from the other species in order to produce workers. ^[4]

References

1. Messor ibericus (starter kit) | Antsrus, antsrus.com
2. Messor ibericus - Harvester Ant | Ant Antics, antantics.wales
3. Juvé, Y.; Lutrat, C.; Ha, A.; Weyna, A.; Lauroua, E.; et al. (3 September 2025). "One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants". Nature . doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09425-w .
4. Romiguier, J.; Fournier, A.; Yek, S. H.; Keller, L. (February 2017). "Convergent evolution of social hybridogenesis in Messor harvester ants". Molecular Ecology. 26 (4): 1108–1117. doi:10.1111/mec.13899. PMID   27813203.

Further reading

• Kozlov, Max (2025-09-03). "'Almost unimaginable': these ants are different species but share a mother". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-025-02807-0. ISSN   1476-4687.