Asexual Reproduction in Animals

Asexual reproduction is the common mode of reproduction among lower animals. Unlike sexual reproduction, it does not involve meiosis or the formation and fusion of gametes. A single parent alone gives rise to the progeny, so the two sexes are not involved at all. Because the offspring arise from mitotic divisions of the parent's own cells, they are genetically identical to the parent and to each other — such genetically identical individuals are called clones. Among lower animals, the two principal modes of asexual reproduction described in this chapter are gemmule formation, seen …