Abstract
PARTHENOGENESIS in insects is well known, and its occurrence in the class is fairly widespread. In the order Collembola (the springtails) its presence has been suggested on rather disputable grounds and then afterwards denied on more than one occasion1. Choudhuri gave the first real proof of the phenomenon within the order when he described2 a new species of Collembola (Onychiurus parthenogeneticus). He was able to study this species not only by examination of museum material from Europe and Africa but also by observations on specimens maintained in culture for more than two years. No males of this species were ever seen by him. In all, some forty species of the genus were examined by Choudhuri, and this was the only species in which no males were found. This led to the assumption that the phenomenon may be rather rare in Collembola. Gisin3 placed O. parthenogeneticus as a junior synonym of O. hortensis Gisin, 1949, and stated that “die Kolonien offenbar meist aus lauter Weibschen bestehen”. This synonymy is not upheld by Choudhuri and Goto (in the press), but the two species are obviously very close. The suggestion that at least some males are present in Gisin's species indicates that facultative parthenogenesis might possibly occur in certain circumstances in Collembola.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Paclt, J., “Biologie der primär flügellosen Insekten” (Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena, 1956).
Choudhuri, D. K., Proc. Roy. Ent. Soc. Lond., B, 27, 155 (1958).
Gisin, H., “Collembolenfauna europas” (Muséum d'histoire Naturelle, Geneva, 1960).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
GOTO, H. Facultative Parthenogenesis in Collembola (Insecta). Nature 188, 958–959 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/188958a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/188958a0
This article is cited by
-
Male Sexual Trait Decay in Two Asexual Springtail Populations Follows Neutral Mutation Accumulation Theory
Evolutionary Biology (2020)
-
Antibiotic treatment leads to the elimination of Wolbachia endosymbionts and sterility in the diplodiploid collembolan Folsomia candida
BMC Biology (2009)
-
Vertical stratification of oribatid (Acari: Oribatida) communities in relation to their morphological and life‐history traits and tree structures in a subtropical forest in Japan
Ecological Research (2008)
-
Studies on populations of Folsomia candida (Insecta: Collembola)
Oecologia (1971)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.