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Aphids inside aphids

In many aphids during the warm season, a female can give birth to live daughters that already carry embryos of their own daughters. This is called “telescoping generations” and occurs during viviparous parthenogenetic reproduction. Some species also have sexual reproduction and an egg stage in their life cycle, so the description does not apply to every aphid at every time of year.

Aphid granddaughters can develop inside their mothers’ daughter embryos.