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Cytogenetics of the parthenogenetic grasshopper Warramaba (formerly Moraba) virgo and its bisexual relatives

III. Meiosis of male “synthetic virgo” individuals

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Abstract

Hybrids of both sexes were obtained from the reciprocal crosses, carried out in the laboratory, between the species believed to have given rise, by hybridization some thousands of years ago, to the parthenogenetic species W. virgo. All males with a Y-chromosome derived from P196 died before reaching the adult stage, but two males from the reciprocal cross (i.e., with a Y from P169) survived up to the adult stage. Their testes were small but normal in structure and histology. At the first meiotic division almost all the chromosomes were univalents, 0–2 bivalents being formed. Some chiasmata between non-homologous chromosomes were present. Segregation at first anaphase is irregular so that sperms with 3–15 chromosomes are formed. Such hybrids appear to be entirely sterile.

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White, M.J.D., Contreras, N. Cytogenetics of the parthenogenetic grasshopper Warramaba (formerly Moraba) virgo and its bisexual relatives. Chromosoma 67, 55–61 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00285647

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00285647

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