Abstract
The morphological and kinetical features of the odonate sex chromosomes are reviewed and trends of the evolution of different modes of sex determination in the order are considered. The cytological conditions in the familyGomphidae are of particular importance for the understanding of the evolution of sex determination in dragonflies and are discussed in detail.
The original mode of sex determination in Odonata is of the XO/XX type, the male being the heterogametic sex, and is observed in all primary complements (cf.Kiauta, 1967) regardless of the chromosome number viz. the degree of phylogenetic advancement and specialisation achieved by the taxons concerned.
The mean length of the sex chromosome and the ratio between the longest autosomal bivalent and X are not characteristic at superspecific taxonomic levels. In the male the sex chromosome is usually positively heteropycnotic at all spermatocyte stages, save metaphase and anaphase, whereas in the female it is nearly without exception isocyclic. The first maturation division is equational for X, the second is reductional.
In secondary complements a neo-XY sex determination occurs, in those cases where the original X was involved in a fusion with an autosome. Its occurrence is not related to phylogeny.
The neo-XY condition is often reversible: it occurs in some cells (or stages) while not in others of the same individual. If stabilised, it tends to evolve further, as it was demonstrated inGomphidae, into a secondary XO type. The process has three stages, with an intermediate neo-X neo-neo-Y sex determination and a final numeric reduction of the diploid complement by two elements.
It was demonstrated, that the present type number ofGomphidae is of secondary rather than of primary origin.
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Kiauta, B. Sex chromosomes and sex determining mechanisms in Odonata, with a review of the cytological conditions in the familyGomphidae, and references to the karyotypic evolution in the order. Genetica 40, 127–157 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01787346
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01787346