Gas liquid chromatography (GC) was used to analyse the cuticular alkanes of 26 species and subspecies of tsetse flies (Glossina spp.). Unique interspecific and intraspecific (males vs. females) chromatographic patterns were observed. Solvent extraction of dried museum specimens and fresh specimens were equally successful, and left specimens undamaged. GC peaks were used as characters with one of five character states per peak, to show phenetic relationships among species by sex using a UPGMA algorithm, using 23 peaks for males and 40 peaks for females. Comparisons among species of the morsitans group often agreed with recognized morsitans group classification using morphological techniques, with G. austeni Newstead being somewhat aberrant. Glossina tachinoides Westwood was less closely related to others in the palpalis group than previously described using morphology. Eleven members of the rarely studied fusca group were also classified by this methodology.
Comparison of the presence and quantities of cuticular hydrocarbons has been used successfully for identifying sibling species and races of several groups of insects. This approach has been extended to four species of moths previously regarded as belonging to the same genus, Heliothis. Gas chromatography was used to quantify the numerous high-molecular weight alkanes found on the cuticle of two pairs of closely related species: Helicoverpa zea and Helicoverpa armigera, and Heliothis virescens and Heliothis subflexa. Both sexes of H. zea and H. armigera contained different quantities of several alkanes that could be used for unambiguous identification. Similar comparisons of H. subflexa and H. virescens showed four peak ratios that were different for each species. Sexual dimorphism was minor in H. subflexa and H. virescens.
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