[Taxacom] if not Wolbachia, what could be the reason?

[Hans Henderickx]

Dear Soowon Cho,

Interesting question!

Some years a go I found an isolated  colony of the parthenogenetic 
(exclusively females) moth Luffia (lapidella ferchaultella) in Mol, Belgium. 
In this isolated colony from time to time an exclusive single male was 
produced! In a few years I found about 4 male specimens amongst thousands of 
females.
All other known kolonies in Belgium and The Netherlands exist exclusively 
out of triploid parthenogenetic females. The reason for this anomaly might 
be found in a possible infection (Wolbachia?). I still have the specimens, 
but at that time (more than 15 years ago) no genetic difference or infection 
could be tested.

In the south of Europe another Luffia subspecies (lapidella lapidella) is 
purely bisexual, and the males of this species are quite identical with the 
few males that appeared in Mol, Belgium (genital morpholgy).



Regards,

Hans Henderickx