| In most ants, females are typically produced by sexual reproduction, while males develop from unfertilized eggs. |
| Because hybrid males are almost completely sterile, almost all eggs are unfertilized. |
| In these mutants, the meiotic products remain in interphase in unfertilized eggs and undergo inappropriate DNA replication. |
| Occasionally, however, a mutation occurs that allows fruit to develop from unfertilized female flowers, a process known as parthenocarpy. |
| Some species consist only of females that produce their daughters from unfertilized eggs, a type of reproduction called parthenogenesis. |
| This tactic seems risky, because not all ovules get fertilized, and the unfertilized ones abort without storing nutrients. |
