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Enzyme gene variability in fifteen hymenopteran species, mainly bees, has been studied. The species were Apis mellifera L., six Bombus species, Macropis labiata F., Colletes succincta L., three Andrena species, Vespula vulgaris L., Mimesa equestris F. and Pontania vesicator Bremi. The hymenopteran species reproduce by arrhenotokous parthenogenesis so that the males are haploid and the females are diploid. The present results, as also the earlier studies, show that the number of polymorphic loci and the amount of heterozygosity are smaller in haplodiploid than in diploid insect populations. This is in accordance with theoretical expectations, as both deterministic selection models and the neutral hypothesis predict that genic variability is reduced in haplodiploid populations. The average heterozygosity per locus is lower in eusocial than in solitary species. The difference is not statistically significant, but it may indicate that either small effective population sizes or stable conditions in the nests of eusocial species affect genic variation.

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A unique retinocolobomatous syndrome, the multiple ocular coloboma (MOC) is described in sixteen snow leopards belonging to the Helsinki Zoo pedigree. MOC has been diagnosed in snow leopards from four other zoos in the world. The same syndrome has been reported in the domestic cat, but is not known in any other species. Multidisciplinary investigations have not been able to explain the causes of MOC. MOC is an example of a hitherto unknown type of familial malformations where the available evidence strongly points to nongenetic maternal influences or some external factor affecting all the fetuses in the same way.