Effects of temperature on the expression of elytral colour polymorphism in the ladybird beetle, Menochilus sexmaculatus (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

Autor: Kazunori Ohashi, Yasuko Kawakami, Kazuo Yamazaki
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology. 21:663-666
ISSN: 1226-8615
DOI: 10.1016/j.aspen.2018.04.008
Popis: The ladybird beetle, Menochilus sexmaculatus (Fabricius), has a remarkable elytral colour polymorphism composed of black and red. In the present study, we investigated the effect of temperature on growth from the first instar larva to the pupal stage, as well as maternal morph types on the phenotypic expression of the elytral colour morph in a polymorphic population from Osaka, Japan. Female individuals of three different elytral colour morphs were collected from a wild population, and hatchlings from each female were divided into three groups, which were reared at three constant temperatures: 20 °C, 25 °C, and 30 °C. The phenotypic frequency of F 1 adults indicated that the elytral morph type was determined by genetic factors, but not by growth temperatures. Namely, type A (almost black morph) was the most abundant in F 1 from type A mothers (Male: 52.6%; Female: 32.3%); and types B (four small-dotted morph) and F (four medium-dotted morph) were the most abundant from type B (Male: 56.7%; Female: 53.3%) and type G (four larger-dotted morph) mothers (Male: 33.3%; Female: 31.3%), respectively. Therefore, the expression of elytral colour polymorphism in the Osaka, Japan population is likely to have a genetic basis contingent on parental morphs, rather than a phenotypic plasticity associated with growth temperatures.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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