Latitudinal allozymic variability in natural populations ofZaprionus indianus from India

Twelve natural populations ofZ. indianus from India, collected along lines of latitude, were analyzed electrophoretically and the geographical pattern of variation was compared at 15 allozyme loci. Except forMdh-2, all the loci revealed extensive polymorphism. The allele frequency variation revealed a statistically significant correlation as well as regression coefficients with the latitude. The populations revealed extensive clinal variation at all the polymorphic loci, which depicted moderate to higherF_ST values. Thus, the observed genetic divergence in colonizing populations ofZ. indianus shows the role of natural selection that varies spatially along the north-south axis of the Indian subcontinent.Financial assistance from UGC, New Delhi, is gratefully acknowledged.