Our new research published in Science shows W. virgo arose about 250,000 years ago from a cross between two different sexually reproducing species of grasshopper, and giving up sex appears to have had no negative repercussions for them whatsoever.
This showed clearly that only one hybrid mating between W. whitei and W. flavolineata was responsible for producing W. virgo in the first place. B
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Warramaba virgo (middle) and its ‘parent species’, W. flavolineata (left) and W. whitei (right) Michael Kearney, Author provided
@Joe_Felsenstein how might they evade Muller’s Ratchet?