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Distribution of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) on standard (A) and supernumerary (B) chromosomes of the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans was analysed in specimens collected in Turkey and Armenia, belonging to the E. p. plorans subspecies, and in South Africa, belonging to the E. p. meridionalis subspecies. The latter individuals showed rDNA loci in chromosomes 9 and 11 only, whereas those from Armenia carried it in chromosomes 9 and 11 or else in chromosomes 9-11, depending on the population. The specimens from Turkey carried it in chromosomes 1, 9-11 and X. A comparison of this pattern with those previously observed in populations from Spain, Morocco, and Greece (belonging to E. p. plorans) suggests the existence of two evolutionary patterns in rDNA chromosome location in A chromosomes of this subspecies: eastern populations showing rDNA restricted to the small (9-11) chromosomes (as in E. p. meridionalis and other closely related taxa within the Eyprepocneminae subfamily) and western populations carrying rDNA in most A chromosomes (Spain) or all of them (Morocco). The intermediate pattern discerned in geographically intermediate populations (in Greece and Turkey), with rDNA also being located on the X chromosome, suggests a possible east-west cline. Additional support for east-west differentiation in the rDNA location pattern comes from the analysis of B chromosomes. In eastern populations, including Daghestan, Armenia, Turkey, and Greece, B chromosomes are composed mostly of rDNA, whereas in western populations (Spain and Morocco) they contain roughly similar amounts of rDNA and a 180-bp tandem repeat (satDNA), the latter being scarce in eastern Bs., (Copyright 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Analysis of chromosome localization of three molecular markers, 18S-5.8S-28S rDNA, 5S rDNA and a 180 bp satDNA, showed that B chromosomes in the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans originated independently in Eastern (Caucasus) and Western (Spain and Morocco) populations. Eastern B chromosomes are most likely derived from the smallest autosome, which is the only A chromosome carrying the three markers, in coincidence with Caucasian B chromosomes. Western B chromosomes, however, lack 5S rDNA and are most likely derived from the X chromosome, which is the only A chromosome carrying the two remaining markers, always in the same order with respect to the centromere, as the B chromosome.

The double FISH analysis of two repetitive DNAs (a satellite DNA and ribosomal DNA) in 12 natural populations of the grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans collected at the south (Granada and Málaga provinces) and south-east (Albacete and Murcia provinces) of the Iberian Peninsula has shown their wide-spread presence throughout the whole genome as well as extensive variation among populations. Both DNAs are found in most A chromosomes. Regularly, both DNAs occurred in the S11 and X chromosomes, rDNA in the S10 and satDNA in the L2 and M3. No correlation was found between the number of satDNA and rDNA clusters in the A genomes of the 12 populations analysed, and both figures were independent of the presence of B chromosomes. The genomic distribution of both DNAs showed no association with the geographical localization of the populations analysed. Finally, we provide evidence that the supernumerary chromosome segment proximally located on the S11 chromosome is, in most cases, the result of satDNA amplification but, in some cases, it might also derive from amplification of both satDNA and rDNA.