Cytogenetics of the darkling beetles Zophobas aff. confusus and Nyctobates gigas (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae).

Males of Zophobas aff. confusus and Nyctobates gigas (Tenebrionidae) collected in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, were studied through conventional staining, C-banding, silver nitrate impregnation (AgNO₃), and the base specific fluorochromes CMA₃ and DAPI. Z. aff. confusus was found to have 2n = 20 (9+Xyp) while N. gigas exhibited 2n = 18 (8+neoXY). Large pericentromeric blocks of constitutive heterochromatin (CH) were detected throughout the autosomal complement of the two species, except in one autosomal pair of N. gigas in which no heterochromatic block was observed. The sex chromosomes of both species were almost totally heterochromatic. Double staining with CMA₃/DA (distamycin) and DAPI/DA marked CH in Z. aff. confusus. However, DAPI staining was more intense. N. gigas was found to possess blocks of CH-positive CMA₃ and homogeneous DAPI. AgNO₃ staining also revealed differences between the two species. In Z. confusus an NOR was observed in the sexual bivalent Xyp and N. gigas was found to have an autosomal NOR.