Cytogenetic and Meiotic Studies Reveal Conservatism in Acrida turrita (Linnaeus 1758) (Orthoptera: Acrididae) from Lagos, Nigeria

The Acrididae exhibits a stable karyotypic uniformity or conservatism and are a typical specimen for cytological and meiotic investigations. Despite the diversity and cytotaxonomic value of this family, however there are only a few studies on their karyology. This paper is therefore aimed at describing the karyotype and meiotic behaviours of chromosomes of Acrida turrita from Nigeria, West Africa. Ten (10) male A. turrita grasshoppers were randomly collected from different locations in the University of Lagos community between May and June, 2018. Their chromosome smears were prepared using the lacto-propionic orcein squash technique. The prepared slides were viewed under 100X oil immersion objectives. The study revealed conserved 23 acrocentric chromosomes (2n = 23) in all 10 male specimens as reported by previous studies. We also found out that the 11 autosomes are made up of ten Large, three Medium and three Small chromosomes and the X chromosome is Medium in size. No chromosomal aberrations were observed in the meiotic stages as all chromosomes chiasmate. Mean chiasma frequency was found out to be 131.700. Total chromosome length ranges from 2.300.374 µm to 12.200.126 µm  in chromosomes 1 and 11, respectively.