Utility of Morphological and Molecular Techniques for Determination of Paternity in Two Subspecies of Diabrotica undecimpunctata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

An experiment was conducted to determine the paternity of F₁ progeny using morphological and molecular methods in Diabrotica (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) subspecies: Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi Barber, also known as spotted cucumber beetle, and D. undecimpunctata undecimpunctata Mannerheim, also known as western cucumber spotted beetle. Results from crosses that involved the females of D. u. howardi and the males of D. u. undecimpunctata had all F₁ progeny with phenotypes as the male parent. Similarly, in all the crosses that involved the females of D. u. undecimpunctata and the males of the D. u. howardi, all the F₁ progeny had phenotypes as the male parent. DNA from females and males were amplified using two primers to confirm the paternity of F₁ progeny. The study on the inheritance of body color in these two subspecies appeared to be governed by one dominant gene (monogenic), and it is the male that determines the body color of progeny in both subspecies.