Overview of Polyembryony

Polyembryony is a unique form of asexual reproduction whereby multiple offspring are produced from a single egg or zygote. To use Craig et al.’s (1997) words, polyembryony is a paradoxical combination of two reproductive modes—sexual and asexual reproduction. Nevertheless, it has evolved and been maintained in a wide range of taxa, including rust fungi (Alexopoulos 1952; Craig et al. 1997), algae (Searles 1980), and animals (Craig et al. 1997; Skold et al. 2009), including the well-known phenomenon of identical twins in humans.