Saturday 24 May 2014

More male bugs in a warmer world? Temperature influences gender of offspring in bugs

Date:
May 22, 2014

Source:
Universite de Montreal

Summary:
Whether an insect will have a male or female offspring depends on the weather, according to a new study. As in bees, wasps, and ants, the gender determination of Trichogramma parasitoids is called "haplodiploid," that is, fertilized eggs produce female offspring, while unfertilized eggs produce male offspring. The study found that when it was hot, females deliberately produced more males than at medium temperature -- at 34°C, the number of males produced increased by 80%.


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