Chromosome and enzyme diversity in some species of Neanuridae (Collembola)

In recent years polytene chromosomal studies on different neanurid Collembola have revealed a great variability within a single species in heterochromatin density and chromosome shape. This paper reports analyses of chromosome and enzyme polymorphisms of some populations to obtain information of the genetic distance between them. Three populations of Bilobella aurantiaca from Siena, Rome and Naples are distinguishable on the basis of the different concentration of heterochromatin which is less abundant in the caryotype of the Naples population compared with the other two populations. The genetic divergence values confirm the similarity between the Siena and Rome populations and their differentiation from that of Naples. Two populations of Thaumanura ruffoi , morphologically and cariologically undifferentiated, from Siena and Naples, tested with the same technique, reveal a high value of genetic separation.