An insect every gardener hates, the female scale insect
carries her own sperm—harbored in tissue passed down through the generations—so she doesn’t need a male to have her babies.
– Natalie Villacorta, “ScienceShot: Sex and the Single Insect,” Science, 15 July 2011
Scientists differ as to whether this is a good strategy, but a recent finding is that males may be going extinct as a result. If so, there is no more recruitment for the gene pool, in which case …