POPULATION-GENETICS OF THE SPRINGBOK ANTIDORCAS-MARSUPIALIS - A PRELIMINARY-STUDY

Biochemical-genetic variation was studied in springbok Antidorcas m. m arsupialis (Zimmermann, 1780) from a large (N > 2000) ''wild'' populat ion (n = 24) and a small (30> N> 20) isolated farm population (n = 10) using electrophoretic allozyme analysis. Springbok showed polymorphis ms at eight out of 46 loci. The springbok from the large population ha d a higher proportion of polymorphic loci (P = 15.6%) than those from the small population (P = 8.9%). Average heterozygosity (H = 5.1% and H = 4.1%, respectively) was similar for the two populations. This unex pected result is an artefact of the method for calculating H. H:P rati os are lower for the large population than the small one. The distribu tion of genotypes differed significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibri um for two loci. These were found to have a preponderance of homozygot es. This could not be explained by population fragmentation. The level s of polymorphism and heterozygosity are high compared to results from other African bovids.