The chromosomal relationships of Simulium arakawae, a black fly of medicalveterinary
importance, are resolved relative to other members of the Simulium venustum
species group and to the standard reference map for the subgenus Simulium. Simulium
arakawae differs from the subgeneric standard by eight fixed inversions, apparently none of
which are shared with any of the other 17 chromosomally studied nominal members of the
group. The chromosomal features that indicate group membership might have been lost in S.
arakawae, particularly if they were polymorphic in an ancestor.