Variability of 18rDNA loci in four lace bug species (Hemiptera, Tingidae) with the same chromosome number

Abstract. Male karyotypes of Elasmotropis testacea (Herrich-Schaeffer, 1835), Tingis cardui (Linnaeus, 1758), Tingis crispata (Herrich-Schaeffer, 1838), and Agramma femorale Thomson, 1871 (Heteroptera, Cimicomorpha, Tingidae) were analyzed using conventional chromosome staining and FISH with 18S rDNA and (TTAGG)(n) telomeric probes. The FISH technique was applied for the first time in the Tingidae. In spite of the fact that all species showed the same chromosome number (2n = 12 + XY), they have significant differences in the number and position of rDNA loci. FISH with the classical insect (TTAGG)(n) probe produced no signals on chromosomes suggesting telomeres in lace bugs to be of some other molecular composition. Tingidae share absence of the (TTAGG)(n) telomeric sequence with all so far studied taxa of the advanced true bug infraorders Cimicomorpha and Pentatomomorpha.