Editing Ploidy (section)

===Haplodiploidy===
{{main|Haplodiploidy}}

Ploidy can also vary between individuals of the same species or at different stages of the [[biological life cycle|life cycle]].<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Parfrey LW, Lahr DJ, Katz LA | year=2008 | title=The dynamic nature of eukaryotic genomes | url= | journal=Mol Biol Evol | volume=25 | issue= 4| pages=787–794 | doi=10.1093/molbev/msn032 | pmid=18258610 | pmc=2933061}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author=Qiu Y.-L., Taylor A. B., McManus H. A. | year=2012 | title=Evolution of the life cycle in land plants | journal=Journal of Systematics and Evolution | volume=50 | issue= 3| pages=171–194 | doi=10.1111/j.1759-6831.2012.00188.x| url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92043/1/j.1759-6831.2012.00188.x.pdf | hdl=2027.42/92043 | s2cid=40564254 | hdl-access=free }}</ref> In some insects it differs by [[eusociality|caste]]. In humans, only the gametes are haploid, but in many of the [[social insect]]s, including [[ant]]s, [[bee]]s, and [[termite]]s, males develop from unfertilized eggs, making them haploid for their entire lives, even as adults.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

In the Australian bulldog ant, ''[[Myrmecia pilosula]]'', a haplodiploid species, haploid individuals of this species have a single chromosome and diploid individuals have two chromosomes.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Crosland MW, Crozier RH | title=Myrmecia pilosula, an Ant with Only One Pair of Chromosomes | journal=Science | volume=231 | issue=4743 | pages=1278 | year=1986 | pmid=17839565 | doi=10.1126/science.231.4743.1278 | bibcode=1986Sci...231.1278C | s2cid=25465053 }}</ref> In ''[[Entamoeba]]'', the ploidy level varies from 4''n'' to 40''n'' in a single population.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://bcrc.bio.umass.edu/courses/fall2010/biol/biolh100-03/sites/default/files/vazquez_eukaryotic_diversity_2010.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-02-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223015031/https://bcrc.bio.umass.edu/courses/fall2010/biol/biolh100-03/sites/default/files/vazquez_eukaryotic_diversity_2010.pdf |archive-date=2014-02-23 }}</ref> [[Alternation of generations]] occurs in most plants, with individuals "alternating" ploidy level between different stages of their sexual life cycle.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}