Black Widow spiders are no longer the ONLY species that women are jealous of!

This all-girl clan of Ambystoma has found a work-around. Most salamanders mate externally—males deposit “sperm packets” for females to pick up. (Hot.) Through a mechanism science hasn’t completely worked out, unisexual salamanders are able to sidle over and steal DNA from these packets, in what Denton calls “sneaky sex.” The stolen genetic material triggers them to lay eggs virtually free of the unwitting sperm donors’ genes.

It’s a reproductive strategy known as “kleptogenesis”—essentially, reproduction by theft.

“On paper,” Denton said, “it’s the perfect way to reproduce: there are no males to take up resources, every female gets to pass on all of her genetic material, but they still get a new shot of genetic variation occasionally.”

This sperm-stealing crew also appears to be a super-charged salamander. When their tails were cut off, according to the new research, the unisexual salamanders regrew them 1.5 times faster than sexually-reproducing peers. Being able to regrow a tail quickly is a huge competitive advantage for Ambystoma, as it’s much better to offer predators an expendable limb than, say, a head.

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