What type of cell division results in four daughter cells, each with half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell?

The process that results in four daughter cells, each with half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell, is meiosis. This specialized type of cell division occurs in sexually reproducing organisms and is essential for the formation of gametes, such as sperm and egg cells in animals.

During meiosis, a diploid parent cell undergoes two rounds of division: meiosis I and meiosis II. In meiosis I, homologous chromosomes are separated into different daughter cells, reducing the chromosome number by half, leading to two haploid cells. In meiosis II, those two cells undergo a second division where the sister chromatids are separated, resulting in a total of four haploid daughter cells. Each of these cells contains only one set of chromosomes, making them genetically distinct from each other and the parent cell.

This reduction in chromosome number is critical for maintaining the species' chromosome count when gametes fuse during fertilization, ensuring that the resulting zygote has the proper diploid number.