Genic Diversity in Cave-Dwelling Crickets (Ceuthophilus gracilipes)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Approximately 330 cave crickets Ceuthophilus gracilipes were collected from eight caves in three areas of central Pennsylvania. A total of 26 gene loci were characterized by electrophoresis and staining of 15 enzyme systems. Three loci are polymorphic, two in all cave populations and one in one cave. The universally polymorphic loci are Mdh-2 and Pep-2. There is modest but significant regional differentiation of allele frequencies at both loci between the most remote cave areas, Tyrone and Siglersville, but not between these areas and the population of an intermediate cave. Although the population of C. gracilipes is less than 500 in most caves, there is no evidence for the action of random drift of allele frequencies. Greater genetic subdivision does not occur either because migration occurs between cave and forest populations or because selection pressures in the uniform environments of spatially separated caves are similar in direction and magnitude or both.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: