ALLOZYME POLYMORPHISM IN A NATURAL-POPULATION OF CHRYSOPERLA-CARNEA SENSU-LATO (NEUROPTERA, CHRYSOPIDAE) - A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STATUS OF THE CONSTITUTIVE TAXONS IN WESTERN-EUROPE

In recent years, several sibling species have been discovered in chrys opid lacewings. In Europe, the common green lacewing Chrysoperla carne a (Stephens) sensu lato seems to correspond to a ''complex'' of three morphologically and biologically different taxons: Ch. carnea sensu st ricto, Ch. kolthoffi (Navas) and Ch. lucasina (Lacroix), the status of which is not yet fully clarified. We examined, by means of polyacryla mide gel electrophoresis, the esterase and acid phosphatase polymorphi sm in a natural population of the Chrysoperla complex collected in the centre of France. Five groups of esterases and two groups of phosphat ases were investigated, but only two loci, Est-3 and Acp-2, achieved a good resolution allowing a satisfying genetic interpretation. The gen etic analysis confirmed the significant divergence between Ch. lucasin a, and the two others forms. The genetic similarity between Ch. carnea and Ch. kolthoffi seems to be higher. No alternative allozymes demons trate that gene flow does not occur in field populations, nor a full r eproductive isolation of the different taxons.