GENETIC VARIABILITY OF Liometopum apiculatum Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) AS A CONSERVATION MEASURE IN MEXICO
Main Article Content
Keywords
escamoles, reintroduction, semi-desert edible insect.
Abstract
Objetive: to measure genetic divergence of Liometopum apiculatum Mayr of three different sites in Mexico based on cytochrome oxidase subunit I.
Design/Methodology/Approach: we sampled populations of L. apliculatum (escamol) on three collecting sites: Otumba, Mexico State; Pinos, Zacatecas and Matehuala, San Luis Potosí and compared amplified DNA extracts with NCBI GenBank established molecular taxonomic patterns.
Results: we build a two-parameter genetic distance model with the three populations of L. apiculantum that confirms sites connectivity in spite of distance based on the cytochrome oxidase subunit I. These similarities uphold the adaptation of L. apiculatum to adverse climate conditions.
Limitations on study/implications: the similarity, based on cytochrome oxidase subunit I, may allow the use of queen ants from different sites in order to enhance the reproduction of ants, but requires acceptability tests of the ant queens.
Findings/Conclusions: DNA of L. apiculatum showed a very little genetic divergence on ant nests analyzed. We think of a strategy to enhance Liometopum reproduction activities based on the use of alien queen ants in the needed nests.
