Myrmecia pilosula, an Ant with Only One Pair of Chromosomes.

A new sibling species of the primitive Australian ant Myrmecia pilosula has a chromosome number of n = 1. C-banding techniques confirm that the two chromosomes of workers are homologous. Males are haploid, as in other Hymenoptera, and their somatic cells contain only a single chromosome. This new species is potentially of great importance in both laboratory and field studies on gene organization.