Evolutionary genetics and systematics of the garden dormouse,<i>Eliomys</i>Wagner 1840.1‐karyotype divergence

Abstract

Abstract Data on the system of chromosomal variability of the garden dormouse, Eliomys, are reported. Ten populations from Italy, Austria, and Morocco were analyzed cytogenetically. Five different di‐ploid numbers (2n = 46, 48, 50, 52, 54) were found and the karyotypes were compared analyzing G and C banding patterns. The G‐band analysis demonstrated that the European karyotypes (2n = 48, 50, 52, 54) originated through successive Robertsonian fissions, involving the metacentric pairs 12, 13, and 7. The Moroccan population (2n = 46) lacks the smallest acrocentric pair (No. 23). The comparison of the G‐band pattern between the European and the Israeli 48 chromosome dormice revealed chromosomal rearrangement of the largest subtelocentric (pair No. 1). It is suggested that the 48 chromosome karyotype is ancestral.