The Chromosomes Damaliscus Lunatus of the Tsessebe
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
S.Afr.J.Zool. 19R7, 22(4) 311 its peak at the breakpoint and the outer turbulent zone is (Crustacea, Decapoda. Thalassinidea). Mar. Bioi. 22: characterized by high diversity and biomass, In the 361-36.\. King's Beach transect Callianassa were first recorded FORBES, A.T. 1974. Osmotic and ionic regulations in around the outer limit of the transition zone (4 m) and Callianassa krallssi Stebbing (Crustacea, Decapoda, were abundant in the outer turbulent zone which started Thalassinidea). !. Exp. Mar. Bioi. £001. 16: 301-311. at 5 m, The absence of Callianassa from the outer HANEKOM, N.M. 19~O. A study of two thalassinid prawns turbulent zone at Sundays River is not explained by our in the non-Spartina regions of the Swartkops estuary. data and must be related to a factor other than substrate. Ph.D. thesis, University of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Forbes (1973a) postulated that water movement and KENSLEY. B. 1974. The genus Callianassa (Crustacea, sediment transport limited the distribution of C. kraussi. Decapoda. Thalassinidea) from the west coast of South The stronger longshore currents in the exposed eastern Africa with a key to South African species. Ann. S. Afr. side of the bay and the possible increase in sediment Mus. 62(8): 265-278. transport may preclude Callianassa from this area. McLACHLAN. A., COCKCROFT, A.e. & MALAN, Using the mean Callianassa spp, biomass (10,04 ± 8,9 D.E. 1994. Benthic faunal response to a high energy g m-') for the 15 stations sampled in the transition and gradient. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 16: 51-63. outer turbulent zones of King's and Hobie Beaches (area McLACHLAN, A. & GRINDLEY, J.R. 1974. Distribution 2 of macrobenthic fauna of soft substrates in the Swartkops ca 2 km ) a conservative biomass estimate of 20 000 kg is obtained for this sheltered section of Algoa Bay. The estuary with observations on the effects of floods. Zool. total standing biomass for the Swartkops estuary was Afr. 9(2): 211-233. estimated at ca 12 000 kg by Hanekom (1980). This population of prawns is a major food source for fish, and is important in bioturbation and ventilation of the sediment. The chromosomes of the tsessebe Further study is required to establish factors Damaliscus lunatus influencing competition/co-existence between the two Callianassa species found in the King's Beach transect. Acknowledgements . H J van der Veen' ) 9 The authors thank P.E.D. Winter for the use of the Department of Zootechnology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, 0 0 curvefit program and N. Malan for diving and laboratory University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort, 0110 2 assistance, M. Maree is thanked for the final figures. The d e B.L. Penzhorn t second author acknowledges a C.S.I.R. post-graduate a Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, d bursary, ( University of Pretoria, Private Bag X04, Onderstepoort, 0110 r e h References s Received 12 December 1986; accepted 29 May 1987 i l b BARNARD, K.H. 1950. A descriptive catalogue of South u African Decapod Crustacea. Ann. S. Afr. Mus. 38: P Mitotic chromosome studies in five male tsessebe are e 497-509. = h described. The diploid chromosome number of 36 (NF 61) t CHRISTIE, N.D. 1976. The efficiency and effectiveness of is reported for the first time. y b diver-operated suction samples on a homogeneous d 'n Ondersoek is na die mitotiese chromosome van vyf e macrofauna. Estuar. Cstl. mar. Sci. 4: 687-693. t tsessebebulle uitgevoer. Die diplo"iede chromosoomgetal van n CHRISTIE, N,D. & ALLAN, J.e. 1972. A self-contained a 36 (NF = 61) word vir die eerste keer beskryf. r diver-operated quantitative sampler fOT investigating the g e macrofauna of soft substrates. Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Afr. "To whom correspondence should be addrcsscd at: South African c n 40: 299-307. Institute for Medical Research. P.O.Box 1038, Johannesburg, 2000. e c i l DAY, J.H. 1959. The biology of Langebaan lagoon: a study r of the effect of shelter from wave action. e Trans. Roy. The mitotic chromosome complement of tsessebe d Soc. S. Afr. 35: 475-547. n Damaliscus Junatus is reported here for the first time. u DAY, J.H. (Ed.). 19R1. The Estuarine Fauna in Estuarine Chromosome analyses of free-ranging large mammals y a Ecology with particular reference to southern Africa. have been carried out by various researchers in Southern w e A.A. Balkema, Cape Town. Africa. Prominent among these are the investigation into t a FOLK, R.L. 1974. Petrology of sedimentary rocks. chromosomes of the Perissodactyla by Heinichen (1970), G t Hemphill Austen Texas. and the extensive survey of chromosomes of Artio e n FORBES, A.T. 1973a. A study of the hurrowing sandprawn dactyla, Carnivora, Proboscidea and Perissodactyla in i b Callianassa kraussi Stebbing (Crustacea: Decapoda : the Kruger National Park by Wallace (1976). a S Thalassinidea). Ph.D, thesis, Rhodes University, Tsessebe are rare in South Africa and study material is y b Grahamstown, South Africa, not readily available. Wallace (1976) attempted bone d e FORBES, A.T. 1973b. An unusual ahhreviated larval life in marrow chromosome analysis from a male and female c u the estuarine burrowing prawn Callianassa kraussi tsessebe in the Kruger National Park, but this was not d o r p e R 312 S. -AfrTydskr.Dierk. 1987,22(4) successful. An opportunity to study the mitotic Africa n members of the subfamily are: bontebok chromosomes of tsessebe arose when surplus tsessebe Damaliscus dorcas dorcas, blesbok D.d. phillipsi, males in the Nylsvley Nature Reserve, Central Transvaal Lichtenstein's hartebeest Sigmocerus lichtensteini, red (24"29'S I 28°42 'E), were shot during a parasite hartebeest A/ce/aphus buse/aphus, black wildebeest su rv ey between May 1985 and March 1986 . Tsessebe Connochaetes gnou and blue wildebeest C. taurinus were introduced to Nylsvley in 1977 from the Percy Fyfe (Meester, Rautenbach, Dippenaar & Baker 1986). Nature Reserve, which had been stocked with tsessebe captured in the Waterberg District, Transvaal (Parris & Material and methods Smith 1980). Venous blood from five male tsessebe was co ll ected into Tsessebe belong to the subfamil y Aleelaphinae of the 10 ml evacuated heparinized tubes. The blood specimens family Bovidae (Smithers 1983). The other Southern were cooled by pl ac ing them next to a frozen commercial cold-pack in a styrofoam container, which was sealed with masking tape. Specimens were delivered to the laboratory within 6 h and kept at 4°C until processed. Whole blood was used for leucocyte culture. Chromosome preparati ons were made according to the technique of Moorhead, Nowell, Mellman, BoUips & - Hunge rford (1960). The slides were pretreated with trypsin before staining with Giemsa (Seabright 1971). G 2 banding was performed to facilitate the matching of • c hro m o s ome~ pairs . .. Results and discussion • Chromosome preparations of all five tsessebe were of rather poor techni cal quality. In 30 dividing leucocytes a • • modal diploid number of 36 was found. The autosomal • • complement comprised eight pairs of metacentric chro mosomes, four pairs of submetacentric chromoso mes . and five pairs of acrocentric chromosomes (Figure I). ) 9 The X-chromosome is of submetacentric morphology, 0 Ii. I 0 while the V-chromosome is the largest acrocentric in the 2 compl ement. The chromosome arm number or d • ,. II e II t fundamental number (NF) was 61. a d The results of this study are compared to data from ( r ., other Southern African members of the subfamily e h .. Aleelaphinae (Table I) . The chromosomes of s .. i l • Lichtenstein's hartebeest have not been described. b ,. IS u '. .. Xy Although the diploid chromosome number of members P .. e of the superfa mily Bovoidea varies from 30 to 60, the NF h t varies onl y (with but three excepti ons) from 58 to 62, y b Figure 1 G·banded karyotype of a male tsessebe from which indicates an almost exclusive use of the d Nylsvley Nature Reserve, Central Transvcaal. Robertsonian fusion mechani sm of karyotype evolution e t n a r g e Table 1 Summary of chromosome findings of Southern Africa n members of c n the subfamily Alcelaphinae e c i l r Species 0 :9 2n NF M+SM A +SA X Y Reference e d n u DamaJiscus lunatus 5:0 36 61 24 10 SM A This study y a D. dorcas 1: t 38 60 22 14 A A Wurster & w Benirschke e t a 1968 G ? AlceJaphus buselaphus 0:2 39/40 58/60 21122 1611 8 A t e Connochaeles gnou 0:1 58 60 2 56 ? ? n i b C. taurinus 1:1 58 60 2 56 A A Gerneke 1967; a S Wallace 1978 y b d 2n = diploid chromosome number; NF = fundamental number (chromosome arm number) ; e c M = metacentric; SM = submetacentri c; A = acroce nt ric; SA = subacrocent ri c. u d o r p e R S.Afr.J.Zool. 1987,22(4) 313 in this group (Wurster & Benirschke 1968). In Chromosome preparations of Jcucocytes cultured from speculating about karyological evolution in the Bovidae, peripheral blood. Expl Cell Res. 20: 613--{i16. Wallace (1979) postulated that the COmmon ancestral PARRIS, R. & SMITH, 1.M. 1980. Basterhartbees bovid had a diploid chromosome number of 60. vordcringsvcrslag. Fauna Flora. Pretoria 38: 2-3. The poor technical quality of our G-banded specimens SEABRIGHT, M. 1971. A rapid banding technique for preclude comparison with other species. Buckland & human chromosomes. Lancet 2: 971-972. Evans (1978a,b), using both G-banding and C-banding SMITHERS, R.H.N.