International Journal of Tropical Insect Science (2005) 25, 142-145

K.J. Mbata (2005)
A contribution to the cytogenetics of the armoured ground cricket, Acanthoplus speiseri (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), a pest of grain crops in Zambia
International Journal of Tropical Insect Science 25 (2), 142-145
Abstract: The nature, number, structure and behaviour of chromosomes during the meiotic and mitotic sequences in the armoured ground cricket, Acanthoplus speiseri Brancsik, were investigated from testicular and ovariole material. The karyotype of A. speiseri is 2n male=25 (24 autosomes + XO) and 2n female=26 (24 autosomes + XX). The species exhibits the primitive XO male/XX female-type of sex determination mechanism. All chromosomes in the cell complement (including the X sex chromosome), in both sexes, are acrocentric in shape. The X sex chromosome is the largest element in the karyotype while the autosomes comprise three large, four medium and five small pairs. The behaviour of the chromosomes during the meiotic and mitotic processes is normal and typically orthopteran. The study discusses the important role that karyology and cytogenetics can play for species diagnostics in the subfamily Hetrodinae.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Acanthoplus speiseri		Zambia