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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