Genetic Differences among Five Populations of the Southern Pine Beetle1, 2

Abstract

Six genes were studied electrophoretically in 5 populations of the southern pine beetle, Dendroctonus frontalis (Scolytidae). Males and females differed at the GOT and PGI loci in some populations, differences due perhaps to selection by differential viability in males and females. Significant genetic differences occurred between populations from Virginia and Texas, but not between either of these and a population from Georgia. Populations from Mexico and Arizona differed significantly from those sampled in Texas, Georgia, and Virginia. Eastern and western populations of D. frontalis have become genetically differentiated, with populations in Mexico and Arizona appreciably different from the others and from each other. The genetic evidence supports the idea that the disjunct Mexican and Arizonan populations of D. frontalis diverged from the main body of the species.