The specimen, which was
discovered by an insect enthusiast in Cornwall, could mean the animal is ready
to start having sex
Eleanor
Ainge Roy in Dunedin
Tue 6 Feb
2018 01.08 GMTLast modified on Tue 6 Feb 2018 06.50 GMT
A species of New Zealand stick
insect that was thought to produce only females has hatched a rogue male in the
UK countryside – and scientists say the rare event could mean the animal is
ready to start having sex.
Scientists at Massey University
in New Zealand said they were “disbelieving” when colleagues in the UK reported
they had found a male of the Acanthoxyla
inermis stick insect, as the species has only ever been known to
produce females.
“All Acanthoxyla species
use parthenogenetics to reproduce, which means that the females lay viable eggs
without the need for fertilisation by a male,” said Professor Morgan-Richards
of the School of Agriculture and Environment at Massey University
“No males of
any Acanthoxyla species have ever been recorded, until now.”
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