ON BIOCHEMICAL-GENETIC VARIABILITY AND DIVERGENCE OF THE 2 HEDGEHOG SPECIES ERINACEUS-EUROPAEUS AND E-CONCOLOR IN CENTRAL-EUROPE

Allozymic variation within and between the two closely related hedgeho g species Erinaceus europaeus (n = 45) and E, concolor (n = 40) from t heir central European contact and overlap zones was studied. Horizonta l starch gel electrophoresis of 27 isozyme systems encoding for 37 put ative loci was employed, using kidney tissue samples. Average heterzyg osity (H-e = 0.019-0.02 in E. europaeus; H-e = 0.000-0.02 in E, concol or) and rates of polymorphism (P-99% = 5.41 in E. europaeus; P-99% = 2 .7-5.41 in E. concolor) of regional samples were low as compared to ma mmalian standards. Three loci (Aat-1, Aat-2, Gpi) showed obviously alt ernately fixed (differential diagnostic) alleles between the two speci es. There was no indication of introgressive hybridization. Despite lo w levels of intraspecific genetic distances (Nei's unbiased D for E. e uropaeus = 0.003, and for E. concolor = 0.000-0.005), significant subs tructuring of the gene pools of either species was found. Based on the interspecific genetic distance (Nei's unbiased D = 0.087-0.099), the estimated period of cladogenetic separation amounts to 435,000-495,000 years BP. This accords with the hypothesis of the evolution of the tw o species during the Pleistocene.