Allozyme Variation in Natural Populations of Heliothis virescens1

Abstract

Heliothis virescens (F.) is surveyed for allozyme variability in 11 populations from North Carolina to California. The mean genetic distance (Nei's) for 10 enzyme loci is 0.034±0.002. It is suggested that high dispersal rates observed for the species maintain this genetic similarity. No clinal variation is observed for any individual loci. Aox^1.00 and ± gpdh-^1.00 are significantly correlated with longitude (± 1.00 and Tox^1.01 are correlated with host plant (± <0.005). The mean heterozygosity of 5 western populations is significantly lower (± <0.01) than that of the 6 eastern populations. The mean percent monomorphic loci is also significantly higher (± <0.01) for western than for eastern populations. These differences are attributed to the increased number of alternate host plants in the east.