Eur. J. Entomol. 95 (1): 17-26, 1998
Autosomal recessive mutations affecting body colour in Pyrrhocoris apterus (Hemiptera: Pyrrhocoridae)
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Genetic characteristics of the first three mutants found in P. apterus L.; white (w/w) 1965, yellow (y/y) 1966 and melanotic (m/m) 1973 have been described in detail. Exact Mendelian proportions of 1 : 1 and 3 : 1 in all standard test crosses and absence of sexual linkage revealed that each of these mutations was inherited as a single autosomal recessive gene. The dihybrid and trihybrid crosses showed that the w gene is epistatic over y. The absence of linkage shows that each of the described mutant genes is situated on a different chromosome. During 30 years of sustained rearings of P. apterus, the white (w/w) and yellow (y/y) mutants never originated de novo, whereas the melanotic (m/m) mutants originated independently from the macropterous strain three times. Triple recessive (w y m) white melanotic strain has been maintained and used for some genetic investigations for over 20 years.
Keywords: Recessive mutations, white (w), yellow (y), melanotic (m), trihybrid crosses, pteridine pigments, melanins, recessive epistasis, Pyrrhocoris apterus
Accepted: May 14, 1997; Published: January 20, 1998 Show citation
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