Tuesday, 19 November 2002
D0336

This presentation is part of : Display Presentations, Subsection Cd. Behavior and Ecology

Microsatellites illustrate tritrophic relationships of the parasitoid, Cotesia congregata (Say) [Hymenoptera: Braconidae]

M. Kathleene Jensen, Karen M. Kester, Alexandra Sledd, and Bonnie L. Brown. Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Biology, Life Sciences Building, 1000 W. Cary Street, Richmond, VA

Nine microsatellite loci were developed for Cotesia congregata (Say) and tested for usefulness in determining population structure by assaying four populations. Two populations originated from Manduca sexta L. and Manduca quinquemaculata (Haworth) on tomato and tobacco ("solanaceous group") and the other two from Ceratomia catalpae (Boisduval) on catalpa ("catalpa group"). Eight loci were poylmorphic and one was monomorphic. Allelic distributions differed significantly between the solanaceous and catalpa groups (P<0.006); distributions did not differ within the solanaceous group. Allele size ranges for two of the seven loci were different for the solanaceous and catalpa groups. Wasps from the solanaceous and catalpa groups were examined further for mtDNA and rDNA variation to investigate their status as sibling species.



Species 1: Hymenoptera Braconidae Cotesia congregata
Species 2: Lepidoptera Sphingidae Manduca sexta (tobacco hornworm)
Species 3: Lepidoptera Sphingidae Ceratomia catalpae (catalpa sphinx)
Keywords: molecular ecology, population differences

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