Karyotype and allozyme characterization of the iberian leptynia attenuata species complex (insecta phasmatodea)

Abstract

Karyological and allozymatic characterizations of recently collected samples of the Iberian Leptynia attenuata complex support the occurrence of three genetically differentiated groups, for which parallel morphological observations evidenced only partially diagnostic characters. The groups are: the Portuguese population of Fóia (Serra de Monchique), referred to as the nominal taxon, L. attenuata; the Spanish populations of the Sistema Central, referred to as L. montana; the populations of the Toledo district, referred to as L. caprai. These taxa seem to represent a case of incipient speciation, with chromosomal and genetic differentiation ahead of the morphological one. Chromosome repatternings, affecting autosomes as well as sex chromosomes, appear to go together with the evolutionary events.