The protein profile of five species of achatinid snails (Archachatina marginata (Swainson, 1821), Achatina achatina (Linnaeus, 1758), Achatina fulica (Bowdich, 1822), Archachatina papyracea (Pfeiffer, 1845) and an unidentified snail species) from some parts of southern and north-central states of Nigeria was used to examine the level of genetic similarity between them and also to show whether the eight populations of Archachatina marginata studied contained sub-populations. Each of the species examined was found to have unique protein bands while the protein banding patterns of the eight populations of A. marginata showed six of the populations being taxonomically distinct because they had unique protein bands. The cluster analysis of the A. marginata samples produced two sub-species which showed geographical separation of the species. This may depict a relationship between total protein and ecological adaptation. However, there was better resolution of the protein band patterns using relative mobility of bands. The presence of common bands among the species and the eight populations of A. marginata may depict an evidence of evolutionary origin of the species studied.
Bonytongue fishes of the order Osteoglossiformes provide an interesting clade for evolutionary study considering their wide distribution and their basal position in the general Teleostei phylogeny. Lack of adequate information on the cytogenetics of this group of fishes has been a limiting factor to the understanding of karyotype evolution of the clade. In this study, karyotype of Gymnarchus niloticus, the only species in the family Gymnarchidae collected from Oluwa River was investigated in order to increase the knowledge of karyotype pattern in the family. Metaphase chromosomes were obtained from the anterior portion of the kidney after injecting the fish intraperitoneally with 0.05% colchicine. Slide preparation followed the conventional Giemsa staining technique while digital images of the chromosomes were processed using Mirosoft Excel and Photoshop. The result revealed a karyotype of 2n = 54 (26m+14sm+14sta) which was significantly different in chromosome number and in chromosome macrostructure from the karyotype of 2n = 34 (34m/sm) reported for G. niloticus from Lekki Lagoon. The wide difference in chromosome number and in chromosome structure observed in G. niloticus from these two locations is not a common occurrence among closely related fish species. These two karyotypes therefore raise a question of the possibility of another species in the family Gymnarchidae.
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