> A more interesting question is how they can develop genetic diversity with so little outcrossing.
Hi Pete- thanks for your thoughtful responses. I said a healthy genome but your questing is also interesting along with why be clonal and be sexually reproductive at the same time. Parthenogenesis, like with the birth of honey bee drones, seems quite capable on its own. But according to Cornuet et al. 2006, "Haplodiploidy and sibling mating in V. destructor greatly increase the chance of fixation of new mutations". None of this will help me light my smoker but it sure is interesting.
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