Transmission of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) mutants to T. castaneum- T. freemani Hinton hybrids (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

The genetic library of Tribolium castaneum contains some 125 mutations described so far. Close to 50 of these are sex-linked (recessive or dominant) or autosomal (recessives, semi-dominants or dominants). Fourteen of the 50 mutations affecting a wide variety of body parts were examined in the hybrids resulting from crosses between T. castaneum (Herbst) and T. freemani Hinton, a recently rediscovered species of the castaneum species group. The behavior of the mutations in the hybrids was identical in phenotypic expression and action as those previously observed and reported in T. castaneum , attesting to the similar genetics of the two species. Where hybridization of beetles is possible, this technique provides a means of identifying wild types alleles in common, i.e. homologous, in the two species.