Experimental taxonomy of Bulinus (gastropoda: planorbidae) : II. Recipes for horizontal starch gel electrophoresis of ten enzymes in Bulinus and description of internal standard systems and of two new species of the Bulinus forskalii complex

Abstract

The problems encountered in the identification of African freshwater snails of medical importance have resulted in a search for new and more standardized characteristics. The methods described for the horizontal starch gel electrophoresis of single individuals of Bulinus make it possible to score the phenotype of ten different enzymes in the individual. A system of standards using the enzyme phenotype of Bulinus truncatus as reference is described and brief mention is made of the promising results obtained so far by the application of the method on the taxonomy and identification of Bulinus species from Kenya.