Article

We examined levels of population genelic variation al 9 isozyme loci in the Canarian monotypic endemic Neochamaelea pulverulenta and in a stand of the Mediterranean Cneorum rricoccon. Basic descriptors of genetic variation indicate that this Canarian endemie tilS the emerging pieture of a higher genetic diversity in Canary Is!and cndemics than in lhose from more remote oceanic archipelagos. Genetic variation is highly subdivided in N. pulverulenta, as indicated by the high average va!ues of Gst and Fst, which hinl al a vcry low leve! of gene flow. Patterns of isolation by distance manifest only moderately in the inler-island comparisons, with the population from La Sorrueda (Gran Canaria) unexpectedly closer lo Teno (Tenerife) lhan to the other two Gran Canarian populations in the UPGMA cluster, probably as an effcct of drift. The !ow number of isozyrnc alleles shared by N. pulverulenta and C. tricoccon and the low average genelic identity between thern (I = 0.245) bolsters the hypothesis of an antique evolutionary divergence, as suggested by previous systematic and pallynologic studies.