KINSHIP AND GENETIC-DIVERGENCE AMONG POPULATIONS OF TUATARA SPHENODON-PUNCTATUS AS REVEALED BY MINISATELLITE DNA PROFILING

Tuatara represent the last surviving member of the order Rhynchocephal ia, a group of reptiles the members of which first appeared in the fos sil record 200 million years ago. We report the existence of extensive minisatellite DNA variation in island populations of tuatara, as reve aled by the use of heterologous DNA probes and compare this variation to that found in other vertebrates. Patterns of minisatellite variatio n within and among populations of tuatara on the Taranga and Marotere Islands off the coast of New Zealand are detailed. Individuals from We st Bay and South Cove on Motumuka Island show higher levels of bandsha ring than that recorded between randomly sampled individuals from the same island. We suggest that these populations comprise a proportion o f closely related individuals and that populations within islands are genetically structured. Moreover, we identified individuals which have high levels of bandsharing with substantial proportions of the sample d population, suggesting close kinship. A pairwise, inter-island compa rison of individuals from Motumuka, Whatupuke and Mauimua Islands, rev eals significant differences in distribution of restriction fragments in minisatellite DNA profiles.