Genetic divergence in the wildebeest, Connochaetes taurinus and C. gnou : a molecular and cytogenetic study

Abstract

A variety of molecular and cytogenetic techniques were used to examine the evolutionary relationship between the blue (Connochaetes taurinus) and black (C. gnou) wildebeest and, in addition, to assess the status of South African populations with regard to inbreeding and hybridisation. Very little differentiation was observed between populations of either species indicating that both species are more or less panmictic in structure. Levels of genetic variation were much lower in C. gnou and probably reflect the bottleneck which occurred in this species in the recent past. Evolutionary divergence times of 0.9 - 1.3 and 0.8 - 2.2 million years b.p. were calculated from the mitochondrial and protein analyses respectively. These two estimates of genetic divergence are in close agreement with each other and also with estimates based on morphological data and the fossil record. The occurrence of C. taurinus X C. gnou hybrids was confirmed and the implications of this for game management are discussed.