9806710 Kambhampati The wood-feeding cockroach genus, Cryptocercus, is the sole representative of the family Cryptocercidae and is generally considered to be among the basal lineages of extant cockroaches. At present, four species are recognized worldwide within the genus. The distribution of Cryptocercus in the U.S. is disjunct, with a set of populations distributed along the Appalachian Mountains and another along the coastal mountains in the Pacific Northwest. All Cryptocercus in the eastern U.S. are presently classified as a single species. However, recent evidence based on DNA sequence analysis, chromosome analysis and mating studies indicated that there may be as many as four species of Cryptocercus in the U.S. Subsequent analysis of DNA sequence of the nuclear rRNA genes and ITS2 confirmed the results based on sequence analysis of mitochondrial rRNA genes. Given the existence of 4 or more Cryptocercus species in the U.S., the overall objective of the proposed studies is to delineate their geographical and biological boundaries. The specific objectives of the proposed research are: (1) Characterize sequence variation in mitochondrial rRNA genes within and among populations of Cryptocercus. (2) Characterize chromosome number variation among populations of Cryptocercus. (3) Develop formal descriptions and morphological keys for the new species of Cryptocercus. Samples with different karyotypes will be examined to identify consistent and fixed morphological differences that can be used for identification of the new Cryptocercus species and possibly in cladistic analysis along with the DNA sequences. Together, these studies will be a comprehensive analysis of species boundaries using multiple quantitative criteria.
