T iploidy in pa henogene ic Chinese Helopho us aquila
Angus e al., 2014
Robe B. Angus1,2, Fenglong Jia1
1Ins i u e o En omology, School o Li e Sciences, Sun Ya -sen Uni e si y, Guangzhou, 510275, Guangdong, China
2Depa men o Li e Sciences (Insec s), The Na u al His o y Museum, C omwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
Co esponding au ho s: Robe B. Angus ( [email p o ec ed]);
Fenglong Jia ([email p o ec ed], [email p o ec ed])
Academic edi o : Ilya Ga ilo -Zimin|Recei ed 20 Augus 2025|Accep ed 16 Sep embe 2025|Published 7 Oc obe 2025
h ps://zoobank.o g/A40110AD-6BE8-4F01-ACE7-3ED848A6A335
Ci a ion: Angus RB, Jia F (2025) T iploidy in pa henogene ic Chinese Helopho us aquila Angus e al., 2014.
Compa a i e Cy ogene ics 19: 167–169. h ps://doi.o g/10.3897/compcy ogen.19.169353
Abs ac
Checking old unpho og aphed slides o ch omosome p epa a ions in he possession o R.B.A. e ealed
one slide labelled “ a e ♀7g 6/6/13 ✓”. The bee le wi h hese da a is a emale pa a ype o H. aquila
Angus e al., in he gene al collec ion o he Na u al His o y Museum, London. One almos comple e
di iding nucleus was ound, wi h 32 ch omosomes, indica ing a iploid nucleus wi h one ch omosome
los in he cou se o p epa a ion o he slide.
Keywo ds
China, ch omosomes, Helopho us aquila, iploid
In oduc ion
Angus e al. (2014) no ed ha he A. aquila ma e ial was o iginally hough o belong
o H. a e d’O chymon , 1926 and only ecognised as a sepa a e species ollowing
disco e y o males wi h a dis inc i e aedeagus. Angus e al. no ed ha only h ee male
H. aquila we e ound ou o 102 specimens lis ed as he ype se ies and in he key o
species (p.217) desc ibed he species as “pa henogene ic o some ex en , males absen
o e y a e”, con as ed wi h H. a e “clea ly bisexual species wi h males and emales
p esen in app oxima ely equal numbe s”.
CompCy ogen 19: 167–169 (2025)
doi: 10.3897/compcy ogen.19.169353
h ps://compcy ogen.penso .ne
Copy igh Robe B. Angus & Fenglong Jia. This is an open access a icle dis ibu ed unde he e ms o he C ea i e Commons A ibu ion License
(CC BY 4.0), which pe mi s un es ic ed use, dis ibu ion, and ep oduc ion in any medium, p o ided he o iginal au ho and sou ce a e c edi ed.
SHORT COMMUNICATION
COMPARATIVE
Cy ogene ics
In e na ional Jou nal o Plan & Animal Cy ogene ics,
Ka yosys ema ics, and Molecula Sys ema ics
A pee - e iewed open-access jou nal
Robe B. Angus & Fenglong Jia / Compa a i e Cy ogene ics 19: 167–169 (2025)
168
The disco e y o he nucleus epo ed he e shows H. aquila o be a hi d species,
along wi h H. b e ipalpis Bedel, 1881 and H. o ien alis Mo schulsky, 1860 o include
iploid pa henogene ic emales (Angus 1992; Angus, Jia 2020).
Ma e ial and me hods
The ma e ial s udied comp ises one slide wi h he label “ a e ♀7g 6/6/13 ✓”, o igi-
nally p epa ed in 2013. ♀7 is he specimen numbe , g is gu and ✓ means R.B.A.
hough he e was use ul ma e ial p esen . The de ails o p epa a ion a e as desc ibed
by Angus (2025). No C-banding could be a emp ed as when he slide was cleaned
by imme sion i s in xylene, hen in absolu e e hanol, he iploid nucleus could no
longe be ound, al hough mos o he ma e ial was s ill p esen . Loss o a nucleus om
he slide is an una oidable haza d wi h his p ocedu e.
Resul s
The collec ion si e is shown in Fig. 1a. The p incipal a ge o collec ion a his si e
Bo eonec es emme ichi (Falkens öm, 1936) (Angus e al. 2015) and a small sie e was
used o collec ing. The iploid nucleus is shown in Fig. 1b (as ound), c (wi h sec ions
sligh ly sepa a ed o ease o coun ing). Fig. 1d shows he ch omosomes a anged as a
ka yog am. The exis ence o iploid se s is e y clea .
Figu e 1. a collec ion si e o he iploid emale H. aquila b, c he iploid nucleus b as ound c wi h
sec ions sepa a ed o ease o coun ing d he ch omosomes a anged as a ka yog am. The missing ch omo-
some is indica ed by a bold do . Scale ba : 5 μm.
Conclusion
Helopho us aquila is shown o include iploid pa henogene ic emales.
Acknowledgemen s
We hank Zhen-ning Chen o hos ing us in he Qinghai No mal Uni e si y and o
o ganising ou a el and accommoda ion on he Tibe an Pla eau.
T iploid Helopho us aquila 169
Re e ences
Angus RB (1992) A ch omosomal in es iga ion o Helopho us b e ipalpis Bedel (Coleop e a:
Hyd ophilidae) wi h iploid Spanish emales a possible sou ce o Ame ican pa henoge-
ne ic ma e ial. The En omologis 111(1): 56–60.
Angus RB, Angus EM, Jia F-l, Zhang Y (2015) Fu he ka yosys ema ic s udies o he Bo e-
onec es g iseos ia us (De Gee ) g oup o sibling species (Coleop e a, Dy iscidae)–cha ac e -
isa ion o B. emme ichi (Falkens öm, 1936) and addi ional Eu opean da a. Compa a i e
Cy ogene ics 9(1): 133–144. h ps://doi.o g/10.3897/CompCy ogen. 9i1.4463
Angus RB, Jia FL, Chen ZN (2014) A e iew o he Helopho us a e -p aenanus g oup o spe-
cies, wi h desc ip ion o a new species and addi ional aunal eco ds o Helopho us Fab icius
om China and Bhu an. (Coleop e a: Helopho idae). Koleop e ologische Rundschau 84:
209–219.
Angus RB, Jia F (2020) T iploidy in Chinese pa henogene ic Helopho us o ien alis Mo schul-
sky, 1860, u he da a on pa henogene ic Helopho us b e ipalpis Bedel, 1881 and a b ie
discussion o pa henogenesis in Hyd ophiloidea (Coleop e a). Compa a i e Cy ogene ics
14(1): 1–10. h ps://doi.o g/10.3897/CompCy ogen. 14i1.47656
ORCID
Robe B. Angus h ps://o cid.o g/0000-0002-3860-5617
Fenglong Jia h ps://o cid.o g/0000-0003-2391-5038
