Inter-population sex chromosome polymorphism in the grasshopper Podisma pedestris

Abstract

Populations of the alpine grasshopper Podisma pedestris are either completely XO/XX or else completely neo-XY/neo-XX in character. The neo-XY form is limited in its occurrence to near the extreme southwest edge of the present distribution of the species. Both kinds of population also contain B-chromosomes. These are of two types differing with regard to size, stability and origin. Both types can occur in the same population but have not so far been found in the same individual. The pattern of distribution of the larger, mitotically-stable supernumerary suggests that it might be a remnant X-chromosome which became converted into a B in the initial phase of neo-XY evolution. The smaller, partly unstable supernumerary, on the other hand, may well have originated from a heteromorphic S₁₁ pair also found in some of the populations with small B's. The available evidence points to the neo-XY system having evolved following a secondary movement of the species into the higher ground it now occupies after the climatic amelioration at the end of the last ice age.