Paracentric inversion in the grasshopper oedipoda charpentieri

Abstract

One out of ten adult males of the grasshopper Oedipoda charpentieri analysed from a natural population was heterozygous for a paracentric inversion in the megameric M6 chromosome. The inversion involved changes in C-banding pattern which facilitated its detection. Meiotic behaviour was characterised by both an absence of inversion loops at prophase I and dicentric bridges plus acentric fragments in anaphase I, so that this inversion could not have been detected using conventional staining techniques. The possible relationship between the scarcity of reports on paracentric inversions in natural populations of grasshoppers and difficulty to detect them is discussed. © The Genetical Society of Great Britain.