The green-brown polymorphism of the club-legged grasshopper Gomphocerus sibiricus is heritable and appears genetically simple.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Local coexistence of distinct, genetically determined color morphs can be unstable and transitional. Stable, long-term coexistence requires some form of balancing selection to protect morphs from getting lost by directional selection or genetic drift. However, not all phenotypic polymorphism need to have a genetic basis. We here report on the genetic basis of two color polymorphisms in the club-legged grasshopper Gomphocerus sibiricus: a green-brown polymorphism that is phylogenetically and geographically widespread among orthopteran insects and a pied-brown pattern polymorphism that is shared among many gomphocerine grasshoppers.

Results

We found a remarkably clear outcome of matings within and between morph that suggest not only that the green-brown polymorphism

SUBMITTER: Schielzeth H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7268444 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature