The four daughter cells resulting from are haploid and genetically distinct. The daughter cells resulting from are diploid and identical to the parent cell.

The main differences between mitosis and meiosis occur in meiosis stage I.

For the most part, in mitosis, diploid cells are partitioned into two new diploid cells, while in meiosis, diploid cells are partitioned into four new haploid cells.

In mitosis, the daughter cells have the same number of chromosomes as the parent cell, while in meiosis, the daughter cells have half the number of chromosomes as the parent. The daughter cells produced by mitosis are identical, whereas the daughter cells produced by meiosis are different because crossing over has occurred.

The events that occur in meiosis but not mitosis include homologous chromosomes pairing up, crossing over, and lining up along the metaphase plate in tetrads.

Meiosis II and mitosis are not reduction division like meiosis I because the number of chromosomes remains the same; therefore, meiosis II is referred to as equatorial division. When the homologous chromosomes separate and move to opposite poles during meiosis I, the diploid level is reduced from two to one, which is referred to as a reduction division.