ELECTROPHORETIC COMPARISONS OF PHEROMOTYPES OF THE DINGY CUTWORM, FELTIA-JACULIFERA (GN) (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE)

Males of four "sibling species" of Feltia jaculifera, characterized by their mate-recognition system (pheromotype), were examined for electrophoretic variation. Arginine phosphokinase was monomorphic but 14 other enzymes and 1 protein were polymorphic in one or more populations. No locus was diagnostic for any pheromotype. Mean heterozygosity per locus varied from 21 +/- 7.8% to 26.7 +/- 6.7%, the effective number of alleles per locus varied from 2.19 +/- 0.43 to 3.44 +/- 0.59, and from 4 to 11 loci were polymorphic in each population. Phenograms indicate that pheromotypes A, B, and D are genetically similar, whilst pheromotype C is distinctly different. Allele frequencies, F(ST) values, and the large percentage (34-43%) of private alleles in sympatric populations of the pheromotypes indicate a genetic substructuring of the nominal species. However, the level of genetic differentiation among pheromotypes A, B, and D is well below that characteristic of sibling species. Nm values suggest that there is sufficient interbreeding between sympatric populations of pheromotypes A and B to preclude genetic differentiation due to drift. The evidence indicates that discrete mate-recognition systems can be achieved without much allozymic differentiation and can be maintained in spite of significant gene flow.