An extreme case of sexual conflict has been unearthed in the little fire ant Wasmannia Auropunctata. Queens produce sterile workers by sexual reproduction, but all new queens are produced clonally. This potentially reduces male reproductive success to zero but in an apparent response, males thwart queens by eliminating the female genome during brood development. Sons therefore have nuclear genomes identical to those of their father: they too are clonally produced. This remarkable reproductive system effectively results in a complete separation of the male and female gene pools.

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