Abstract
The views of earlier authors on the karyotypic evolution in dragonflies are criticised and a new hypothesis is proposed. It is based on integration of independent karyological, morphological and paleontological evidence, is accounting for the origin of any chromosome number, and is in agreement with the evidence found and the opinions expressed so far on the course of the karyotype numerical evolution in the other insect orders possessing holokinetic chromosomes.
It seems most likely that the present numerical variation in odonate karyotypes has developed through the occurrence of breaks (leading to haploid numbers 10 to 15) and fusions (leading to the complements 3 to 7) in ancestral forms which had n=9.
Low-n complements have been reported for tropical species only, whereas secondarily reduced high-n complements so far have been recorded only in dragonflies from the Temperate Region.
The biological significance of the karyotype variation within a species is considered and a list of the known dragonfly hybrids is given.
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Kiauta, B. Considerations on the evolution of the chromosome complement in odonata. Genetica 38, 430–446 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01507474
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01507474