Did you know?

In many aphid species, a female will regularly give birth to a live clone. These newborn clones already contain a developing daughter within them. Termed “telescopic generation”, this allows aphids to multiply very quickly with or without males. So, the next time you’re pulling out your hair over these little bugs, be happy they just eat plants.

Fact and illustration by Victor Santiago

Source:
Kindlmann, P.; Dixon, A. F. G. (1989). “Developmental constraints in the evolution of reproductive strategies: telescoping of generations in parthenogenetic aphids”. Functional Ecology. 3 (5): 531–537.