Characteristics of parthenogenesis in Cacopsylla ledi (Flor, 1861) (Hemiptera, Sternorryncha, Psylloidea): cytological and molecular approaches

Abstract. Characteristics of parthenogenesis in Cacopsylla ledi (Flor, 1861) were analyzed using cytological and molecular approaches. In all three populations studied from Finland, i.e. Turku, Kustavi and Siikajoki, males were present at a low frequency but were absent from a population from Vorkuta, Russia. In a follow-up study conducted in the Turku population during 2010–2016, the initial frequency of males was ca. 10 % and showed no intraseasonal variation, but then dramatically decreased down to approximately 1–2 % level in seasons 2015–2016. Male meiosis was chiasmate with some traces of chromosomal fragmentation and subsequent fusions. In most females, metaphase in mature eggs included 39 univalent chromosomes which indicated apomictic triploidy. Only a small fraction of females was diploid with 13 chiasmate bivalents. The frequency of diploid females approximately equaled that of males. COI barcode analyses showed that triploid females (N = 57) and diploids (7 females and 5 males) displayed different haplotypes, demonstrating that triploid females reproduced via obligate parthenogenesis. The rarity of diploids, along with the lack of males’ preference towards diploid females, suggested that most likely diploids were produced by rare triploid females which shared the same haplotype with the diploids (not found in the present analysis). Minimum haplotype diversity was detected in the Turku population, but it was much higher in Vorkuta with some indication for the mixed origin of the population. We suggest that functional diploids produced in a parthenogenetic population can give rise either to a new parthenogenetic lineage or even to a new bisexual species.