GENETIC-DIVERGENCE IN SOUTH-AFRICAN WILDEBEEST - ANALYSIS OF ALLOZYMEVARIABILITY

Genetic variability within the blue (Connochaetes taurinus) and black (C. gnou) wildebeests in South Africa was estimated from allozyme freq uencies at 31 protein-encoding loci. Seven loci, Ak-1, Alb, Est-D, Icd h-1, Mpi-1, Pgm-1, and Tf, were polymorphic in the blue wildebeest, bu t only two loci, Est-D and Tf,were variable in its congener. Average g ene diversity was H = 0.018 +/- 0.013 in the black wildebeest and was significantly smaller than that, H = 0.081 +/- 0.030, in the blue wild ebeest. The reduced level of heterozygosity in black wildebeest is mos t likely due to a bottleneck in population size in the early 1900s. Th e genetic distance between the two species was 0.059 +/- 0.027, which is consistent with an estimate of low mtDNA sequence divergence found previously.