Intraspecific differentiation of the cytogenetic structure in natural populations of Chironomus plumosus L., the central species in the group of sibling species (Chironomidae: Diptera)

Intraspecific cytogenetic differentiation in 35 natural populations of Chironomus plumosus from Europe and Siberia were studied. Significant cytogenetic diversity of Palearctic C. plumosus populations was shown. Twelve types of cytogenetic structure were detected in the populations. Only two of them are widely distributed in the Palearctic region. The remaining ten types were unique and were found only in one of the populations. Estimation of the cytogenetic distance of cytogenetic differentiation between natural populations of C. plumosus was performed. The variability of the values of cytogenetic distance between the populations was established. The mean interpopulation cytogenetic distance was 0.164 +/- 0.015. No relation was found between geographical and cytogenetic interpopulation distances.