Abstract
The all-female Tettigoniid grasshopper Xiphidiopsis lita is a diploid species with 2 n=26 (XX+12 pairs of autosomes). There is one pair of huge metacentric chromosomes which, by comparison with the karyotype of the bisexual Phisis sp., are interpreted as autosomes. There is no indication of structural heterozygosity in the karyotype of X. lita, and hence no evidence for a hybrid origin of the species. The cytological mechanism of parthenogenesis (i.e. the nature of the maturation divisions in the oocyte) is still unknown.