Biologist Anna Himler and her scientific team discovered a very special ant in the Amazon. These ants do not reproduce by mating. In the ‘World without sex’ males do not exist at all. The queen can clone herself to exact copies with her DNA. The result is a much more effective reproduction. No energy is spilt by raising male ants that are only used for mating. This means that all the energy is used to create self-reproductive females. The Mycocepurus smithii colony can grow twice as fast as normal ants. And that could be a very effective way to maintain the species.

These Amazon ants are rare. The scientists wonder how these ants could evolve. Social insects have different ways to reproduce, but this asexual way is very unusual. The key could be found in another special behavior: cultivating huge amounts of fungus crops. they produce much more of it than other ant species. Their rare reproducing ability could be related to the reproduction of the fungus, witch is also asexual.

The reproduction of Mycocepurus smithii seems to be successful. But one large question comes to the biologists mind: how is it possible that these ants with all the same DNA can survive? The most successful reproduction starts with creating more resistant strings of DNA. These ants do not develop at all, but are inbreeding constantly. This could cause diseases and weaknesses during time making the ants not last long.

It seems this species did survive for ages anyway which makes them some kind of ‘super ants’. Or more speculative; they are mutant ants, the result of some environmental disaster. Who knows…