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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Colour gene allele frequencies correlated with altitude of habitat in Philaenus populations

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description

Colour morph frequencies were investigated in samples from 15 Philaenus spumarius populations in the western parts of Byelorussia and Ukraine. The three main results of the study are the following: (1) In many populations, breakdown of the barrier inhibiting penetrance of colour allele expression in the male sex, (2) unexpected absence of the allele ppra (for colour morph praeustus) in Ukraine, and (3) an apparent positive correlation between altitude of habitat and the frequency of the allele pO (for colour morphs quadrimaculatus, albomaculatus and leucophthalmus). Some indications of a similar positive correlation between altitude and pO frequency were noted in 1966 in populations living in Norway and Finland. It seems that pO is an allele favoured in habitats at high elevations above sea level.