Cytodeme

Cytodeme first emerged as a printed word more than 60 years ago in a book by Heslop-Harrison. Discussing the Deme Terminology - he continued "cytodeme, a population differing in some distinctive cytological feature from others." More precisely the cytodeme may be defined as the total assembly of all those individuals/organisms that use an identical specific suite of chromosomes to carry their genes. In most cases the suite is composed of several pairs of homologous chromosomes with or without a pair of sex chromosomes. Since the only acceptable proof of the identity (homology) of chromosomes lies in their ability to pair fully from end to end during meiosis it follows that: