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Cytogenetic characterization of <i>Taphronota thaelephora</i> Stal. 1873. (Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae) from Cameroon. II. Description of mitotic chromosomes


RA Seino
ID Tonleu
Y Manjeli

Abstract

Taphronota thaelephora Stal. 1873 is generating a lot of interest for biological and cytogenetic studies because it has demonstrated the potential for a future veritable pest in Cameroon. The lack of previously
established karyotype for the species has necessitated this study. Testes from five adult individuals collected from Balepa - Mbouda in the West Region of Cameroon and treated with 1% colchicine were analyzed using
the Lactic-Propionic Orcein squash technique. Mitotic metaphase chromosomes were measured directly from the microscope and pictures taken with the help of the Lietz photomicroscope. Pictures were processed with the Microsoft Office Picture Manager. The species revealed the standard Pyrgomorphidae karyotype of 2n‰= 19 acrocentric chromosomes. Mean length of the chromosomes ranged from 8.10}1.7 to 3.75}0.0 ƒÊm. Analysis of Relative Chromosome Lengths (RCL) revealed three distinct size groups of long, medium and short. The karyotype of T. thaelephora was made up of 2 pairs of long chromosomes (2LL) and the X-chromosome, 6 pairs of medium chromosomes (6MM) and 1 pair of short chromosomes (1SS). The mean lengths of the long, medium and short sized chromosomes were 7.2 ƒÊm, 4.8 ƒÊm and 3.51 ƒÊm respectively. The X-chromosome was the shortest of the large chromosomes with a mean length of 6.75 ƒÊm.

Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 1997-342X
print ISSN: 1991-8631