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Biol Bull 100: 178-187. (June 1951)
© 1951 Marine Biological Laboratory
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THE DESOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID CONTENT OF THE NUCLEUS AS A CYTOTAXONOMIC CHARACTER IN MANTIDS (ORTHOPTERA : MANTOIDEA)

SALLY HUGHES-SCHRADER 1

1 Department of Zoology, Columbia University, New York 27

1. The relative amount of DNA per spermatid nucleus has been determined by photometric microscopic measurement in eight species of mantids, and the results are discussed in relation to their cytology and the cytotaxonomic problems they present. The mantids studied are the following: Subfamily Liturgousinae—Liturgousa maya S. & Z., L. actuosa Rehn, L. cursor Rehn; Subfamily Choeradodinae —Choeradodis rhombicollis Latr.; Subfamily Manteinae—Tauromantis championi S. & Z., Stagmomantis carolina Johann, S. heterogamia S. & Z.; and Subfamily Pseudomiopteriginae—Pseudomiopteryx infuscata S. & Z.

2. Of the three closely similar species of Liturgousa tested, L. maya with 16 autosomes and L. cursor with 32 have the same content of DNA in the spermatid nucleus, confirming the cytological evidence that no polyploid relation exists between them. The greater diameter and greater total length of metaphase chromosomes in L. maya as compared with L. cursor remain unexplained.

3. Liturgousa actuosa has approximately one and one half times the amount of spermatid DNA as L. maya and L. cursor, in marked disagreement with the cytological evidence for an intermediate position.

4. Tauromantis championi and the two species of Stagmomantis, of the Manteinae, are uniform in DNA spermatid values, as in karyotypes. For Choeradodis no reliable species constant in nuclear DNA could be determined, due to abnormalities in the material, but a value not exceeding that of the Manteinae is indicated; this is in harmony with the cytological evidence.

5. The ratio of DNA per spermatid nucleus in Pseudomiopteryx infuscata to that in Stagmomantis heterogamia is 0.47; the ratio in total length of chromosomes at the preceding metaphase is 0.39. The implications of these findings for the hypothesis that polyploidy has been involved in the evolution of high and low number karyotypes among mantids are considered.






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Copyright © 1951 by the Marine Biological Laboratory.