Genetic variation in Glossina brevipalpis, Glossina longipennis and Glossina pallidipes and the phenetic relationships of Glossina species

Medical & Veterinary Entomology;5: 165-173

Abstract. Glossina brevipalpis Newstead, G.longipennis Corti, and G.pallidipes Austen maintained at ILRAD, Nairobi, Kenya, were examined for genetic variation of fourteen enzyme loci, using poly‐acrylamide gel electrophoresis. G.brevipalpis had six polymorphic loci, an average of 1.46 effective alleles per locus and a mean heterozygosity per locus of 20.0±7.1%. The figures for the same parameters in G.longipennis were 3, 1.16 and 8.2±4.9%, and for G.pallidipes the figures were 7, 1.40 and 22.3±6.3%. Seven rare alleles were lost from the G.brevipalpis colony during a 1‐year period, but no statistically significant changes were observed in the genetics of the colony during this period. Using allele frequency data for ten of the enzymes studied, and frequencies for these enzymes in other taxa, a phenogram was constructed that indicated that the subgenus Austenina (i.e. the fusca group) is the oldest of the three subgenera within the genus Glossina, and that the subgenus Glossina s.str. (i.e. the morsitans group) may be paraphyletic.