Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
The serological relationships of Pissodes strobi (Peck) and P. approximatus Hopkins were examined using turbidimetric and immunodiffusion analyses. Hylobius pales Hbst. was used for heterologous comparisons. When turbidimetric analyses were performed using anti-strobi sera, heterologous reactions with P. approximatus were stronger than homologous reactions. Moreover, immunodiffusion tests substantiated this. These results appear to have broken a cardinal rule of serology: that hererologous reactions do not exceed homologous reactions in magnitude.These results could he due to a simple quantitative variation in the antigen extracts or to possible cross-reactivity between antigenically similar proteins. Another possibility is that the two populations are not separate species. Evidence obtained in this study seems to be in accord with cytological evidence obtained hi previous studies and does not support the designation of P. approximatus as a valid species.