Abstract
It is established that in populations of Myrmeleotettix maculatus with B-chromosomes these chromosomes occur at stable frequencies and are present to the same extent in both the males and the females of the same population. It is also established that the B-chromosome content of a population is positively correlated with its chiasma frequency and that, within a population, individuals with single B-chromosomes tend to have higher chiasma frequencies than individuals lacking B-chromosomes. Since this effect is not increased by the addition of further supernumeraries it is argued that selection operates in favour of individuals with single B-chromosomes. Finally it is shown that the level of B-chromosomes in a population is related to temperature and especially to rainfall so that B-chromosomes are absent from populations in climatically stringent environments.
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Hewitt, G.M., John, B. The B-chromosome system of myrmeleotettix maculatus (thunb.). Chromosoma 21, 140–162 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00343641
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00343641