Allozyme differentiation among nine populations of the corn borer (Ostrinia) in China.

To test the hypothesis of the migration of the corn borer, the allozymes of nine populations of the corn borer (Ostrinia) in China were checked using vertical-slab polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Eight loci of six allozymes were analyzed. The mean of the genetic identities among the nine populations calculated from the allele frequencies was 0.99068, much closer than that of other species and geographical populations. The mean (0.97955) of the genetic identities between the XJYN population (Ostrinia nubilalis Hübner, collected from Yining, Xinjiang Autonomous Region) and each of the other eight populations (O. furnacalis Guenée) was significantly smaller than that between the pairs of the eight populations (0.99386; t test, P < 0.01). Although the population XJYN clearly deviates from the other eight populations in the dendrogram, the relationship of the two species of corn borer was very close. It is possible that the speciation of corn borer may have resulted from single-gene substitutions.