STUDY OF THE VARIABILITY OF ERYTHROCYTE ENZYMES IN CAPTIVE AND WILD POPULATIONS OF THE BLACK LEMUR (EULEMUR-MACACO-MACACO) - AN INDISPENSABLE PRELIMINARY IN CAPTIVE BREEDING PROGRAMS

A study of ten erythrocyte enzymes (PGM I, II, III, G6PD, 6PGD, GLO I, ADA, Est D, DIA, AcP, CA II, and AK) performed on 89 wild and 32 captive Eulemur macaco macaco shows that most systems are monomorphic except four (GLO I, CA II, 6PGD, and NADH DIA). The polymorphism of these markers allows us to make a satisfactory analysis of the variability on this species, especially on the view of comparing, wild and captive populations, and shows that: (1) the population does not contain all phenotypes existing in the wild (CA(a), CA(a+b), DIA(IV), GLO I(B-C), and PGD(c) are completely absent in all captive populations and DIA(III+IV) is only present in three out of 32 animals; (2) in the Nosy-komba Island, the PGD(c) and DIA(IV) are absent and DIA(III+IV) and GLO I(B-C) are only present in 1 out of 46 analyzed samples, showing that this population constitutes an isolate. The possibility to use these data for a strategy of Lemur conservation is discussed.