The Study of Somatic, Meiotic and Salivary Gland Chromosomes of the Melonfly,<i>Dacus Cucurbitae</i>

Abstract

SUMMARYA systematic cytological map of the salivary gland chromosomes of the melonfly Dacus Cucurbitae has been prepared as per the scheme of BRIDGES (1935). The mitotic and meiotic chromosomes have also been studied. The diploid karyotype lacks a dot-shaped chromosome as has been reported by others. The 6 polytene chromosomes have been arranged according to their size and divided into 95 segments. The Y chromosome appears to be completely heterochromatic. A total number of 580 bands has been recorded for the 6 polytene chromosomes with a map length of 1710 μ. The salivary maps of Dacus Cucurbitae have been compared with the gland chromosome rather incomplete maps of D. oleae where the presence of a chromocentre has also been reported, but in Dacus cucurbitae no such chromocentre has been observed.