Genetic differentiation among various populations of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae).

Genetic variation among 14 populations of Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus) from USA (Geneva, New York), Brazil (Brasilia), Japan (Okayama), The Philippines (Caragan de Oyo), Uzbekistan (Tashkent), France (Montpellier), Benin (Cotonou), South Africa (Johannesburg), Reunion Island (Montvert), and five localities in Australia (Adelaide, Brisbane, Mareeba, Melbourne, Sydney) were assessed by analysis of allozyme frequencies at seven polymorphic loci. Most of the populations were not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and had a deficit in heterozygotes. The global differentiation among populations was estimated by the fixation index (Fst) at 0.103 for the 14 populations and at 0.047 when populations from Australia and Japan, which differed most and had a strong genetic structure, were excluded from the analysis. By contrast, the populations from Benin (West Africa) and Brazil (South America) were very similar to each other. Genetic differentiation among the populations was not correlated with geographical distance.