Random mating and absence of sexual selection for b chromosomes in two natural populations of the grasshopper eyprepocnemis plorans

Abstract

The effects of B chromosomes on mating behaviour in natural populations of the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans were investigated by collecting mating pairs in the field. The results have shown random mating and the absence of sexual selection related to the presence of Bs. Possible hypotheses explaining the maintenance of this polymorphism, despite the absence of drive and sexual selection, are discussed. © The Genetical Society of Great Britain.