A Preliminary Note on the Karyotypes of Giant Flying Squirrels Petaurista alborufus and P. petaurista

概要

論文の詳細を見る
Karyotypes of three male giant flying squirrels (Petaurista alborufus lena, P. petaurista melanotus and P. petaurista grandis) were compared with conventional staining and NOR-, G- and C-banding. All three individuals had the same diploid chromosome number (2n=38) and the same fundamental number (FN=72), but the distribution patterns of their Ag-NORs differed. Their X chromosomes were unusually large, being at least 7.22±0.22 in relative length, and their Y chromosomes were entirely negative for the C-banding. Such unique findings relating to the sex chromosomes are worthy of notice as distinctive karyological features specific to the genus Petaurista. The chromosome constitution of two species P. alborufus lena and P. petaurista melanotus was quite similar to each other, as revealed by conventional staining and G- and C-banding, whereas the banded and non-banded karyotypes of two subspecies of P. petaurista were markedly different from each other even though they are currently classified as conspecific taxa. The karyosystematic relationships among the three specimens (subspecies) of Petaurista are briefly discussed in the light of the result of differential staining.