Allozyme Variation in a Natural Population of the Nile Crocodile

Blood samples were collected for allozyme studies from 92 Crocodylusniloticus from the Runde River in Gonarezhou National Park,southern Zimbabwe. Two (glucose phosphate isomerase and erythrocyteacid phosphatase) of 27 protein coding loci were polymorphicwhen examined by starch-gel electrophoresis. This amount ofvariability is similar to that found in another crocodilian,Alligator mississippiensis and is not unusually low as has beenfound in a number of large vertebrates. In a single semi-isolatedpopulation, allele frequencies at both polymorphic loci werein Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium suggesting a random mating patternwith no severe bottleneck effect in the founding of this population.Population F-statistics suggest that panmixia exists withinand among the three main breeding sites studied.