For this reason, hitchhiking on beneficial mutations is most likely to affect the evolution of mutation rates in asexual species where recombination cannot disrupt linkage.

In an asexual species, each member of the population is capable of bearing young.

The hypothesis has been criticised for failing to explain how asexual species developed sexes.

As a result, the patterns of genetic variation in sexual species tend to be very different from those in asexual species.

Such asexual species may be able to undergo genetic recombination between individuals by processes involving heterokaryosis and parasexual events.

However, asexual species can be either haploid or diploid.

It may be the natural state of some asexual species or may occur after meiosis.

And those asexual species that exist, Dr. Charlesworth said, are evolutionarily newcomers.

Most asexual species become extinct after a time.

The Star Kings are an asexual alien species whose highly successful strategy is to evolve at a furious rate to become like their most successful competitors.