Chiasma Frequency in Frogs of the Genus Leiopelma (Amphibia; Anura) and a Test of the Hypothesis of Inducible Recombination

Abstract

The rate of recombination in three species of Leiopelma (Leiopelmatidae, Anura) from New Zealand was estimated by measuring chiasma frequency in spermatocyte bivalents. Both the mean and intra‐individual variance of excess chiasmata frequency differed among the three species (L.hochstetteri=13.17 ± 2.96 SD; L. hamiltoni= 9.69 ± 1.16SD; L. archeyi= 10.71 ± 1.11 SD).L. hochstetteri has one of the highest rates of intra‐individual variation in chiasma frequency found in frogs. The presence of supernumerary chromosomes in L. hochstetteri was used to test the theory of inducible recombination. If supernumeraries are parasites, then they will be associated with an increase in either chiasma frequency or an increase in within‐individual variance. However, this was not found in L. hochstetteri. Nevertheless, the high variance in chiasma frequency associated with these putative genomic parasites in L. hochstetteri makes it impossible to rule out the Red Queen hypothesis as an explanation. Copyright © 1993, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved