Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 2872 No. 1: 9 May. 2011
Type: Articles
Published: 2011-05-09
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2872.1.4
Page range: 49–57
Abstract views: 28
PDF downloaded: 1

Cytotaxonomy of Simulium (Montisimulium) ghoomense (Diptera: Simuliidae) from the Darjeeling Hills, India

Department of Zoology, Darjeeling Government College, Darjeeling, West Bengal 734101, India
Department of Zoology, Darjeeling Government College, Darjeeling, West Bengal 734101, India
Department of Entomology, Soils & Plant Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0315, USA
School of Biotechnology, West Bengal University of Technology, BF-142, Sector 1, Salt Lake City, Kolkata 700064, West Bengal, India
Department of Zoology, Darjeeling Government College, Darjeeling, West Bengal 734101, India
Diptera black flies chromosomal map cytotaxonomy Himalayas polytene chromosomes

Abstract

The polytene chromosomes are mapped for a scarce Himalayan simuliid, Simulium (Montisimulium) ghoomense Datta, from the Darjeeling area of India. This species has three tightly paired polytene chromosomes with a haploid number of 3. Chromosomes I, II, and III account for 39.6%, 30.3%, and 30.1% of the total complement length, respectively. The centromeres of chromosomes II and III consistently form a putative partial chromocenter. Sex chromosomes are undifferentiated and polymorphisms and sibling species are lacking in a sample of 35 larvae. This is the first chromosomal map for a species in the subgenus Montisimulium in India.

References

  1. Adler, P.H. (2005) Black flies, the Simuliidae. In: Marquardt, W.C. (Ed), Biology of Disease Vectors. 2nd ed., Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego, CA, pp. 127–140.

    Adler, P.H. & Crosskey, R.W. (2011) World blackflies (Diptera: Simuliidae): a comprehensive revision of the taxonomic and geographical inventory [2011]. Available from: http://entweb.clemson.edu/biomia/pdfs/blackflyinventory.pdf (25 March 2011).

    Adler, P.H., Cheke, R.A. & Post, R.J. (2010) Evolution, epidemiology, and population genetics of black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae). Infection, Genetics and Evolution, 10, 846–865.

    Chubareva, L.A. (2000) Morphology and karyotypes of new blackfly species of the genus Montisimulium Rubzov (Diptera: Simuliidae) from Western Pamir. Entomological Review, 80, 1091–1102.

    Chubareva, L.A. & Petrova, N.A. (2008) Tsitologicheskie Karty Politennykh Khromosom i Nekotorye Morfologicheskie Osobennosti Krovososushchikh Moshek Rossii i Sopredel’nykh Stran (Diptera: Simuliidae): Atlas. Tovarishchestvo Nauchnykh Izdanii KMK, St. Petersburg. 134 pp. + 218 plates. (In Russian).

    Datta, M. (1975) A new black fly species (Simuliidae - Diptera) from the Darjeeling area, India. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences, 81 B (2), 67–74.

    Dey, S.K. & Fumafartsok, T.W. (1984) Supernumerary chromosomes in two species of blackflies (Diptera: Simuliidae). Cell and Chromosome Research, 7, 28–30.

    Dey, S.K., Henry, W. & Varma, R. (1993) The salivary gland chromosomes of the black fly Simulium (Simulium) singtamense (Diptera: Simuliidae). Cytologia, 58, 299–302.

    Henry, W. (1993) Studies on the Salivary Gland Chromosomes of Some Species of Black Flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) from Darjeeling. Doctoral thesis, University of North Bengal, Raja Rammohanpur, Siliguri, Darjeeling, India.

    Henry, W., Dey, S.K. & Varma, R. (2009) The salivary gland chromosomes of the black fly Simulium (Simulium) dentatum (Diptera: Simuliidae). Zoological Science, 26, 216–219.

    Henry, W., Dey, S.K., Varma, R., Thapa, S. & Procunier, W.S. (2010) The salivary gland chromosomes of the black fly Simulium (Nevermannia) praelargum (Diptera: Simuliidae). Current Zoology, 56, 437−444.

    Procunier, W.S. (1989) Cytological approaches to simuliid biosystematics in relation to the epidemiology and control of human onchocerciasis. Genome, 32, 559–569.

    Rothfels, K.H. (1979) Cytotaxonomy of black flies (Simuliidae). Annual Review of Entomology, 24, 507–539.

    Rothfels, K.H., Feraday, R. & Kaneps, A. (1978) A cytological description of sibling species of Simulium venustum and S. verecundum with standard maps for the subgenus Simulium Davies [sic] (Diptera). Canadian Journal of Zoology, 56, 1110–1128.