The cicada insect has been discovered to have evolved to have a symbioses with no less than 3 different stains of bacteria in its cells but each of these bacterial strains has evolved to become symbiotically dependent on the other 2 thus making this a truly 4-way symbiotic relationship in total if you include the cicada insect itself.
Originally posted by humy The cicada insect has been discovered to have evolved to have a symbioses with no less than 3 different stains of bacteria in its cells but each of these bacterial strains has evolved to become symbiotically dependent on the other 2 thus making this a truly 4-way symbiotic relationship in total if you include the cicada insect itself.
As I was reading the first part of that story, I immediately jumped to the idea of organelles in human tissue and most of the rest of life on Earth. It seemed to be a big hint as to how that particular symbiosis came to be.