Karyological study of Amphisbaena ridleyi (Squamata, Amphisbaenidae), an endemic species of the Archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco, Brazil

• Main Authors: Marcia Maria Laguna, Renata Cecília Amaro, Tamí Mott, Yatiyo Yonenaga-Yassuda, Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Genética 2010-01-01
• Series: Genetics and Molecular Biology
• Subjects: Amphisbaena ridleyi; karyotype; Fernando de Noronha; Ag-NOR; FISH with telomeric probes
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1415-47572010000100011
• ISSN: 1415-4757; 1678-4685

The karyotype of Amphisbaena ridleyi, an endemic species of the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, in State of Pernambuco, Brazil, is described after conventional staining, Ag-NOR impregnation and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with a telomeric probe. The diploid number is 46, with nine pairs of macrochromosomes (three metacentrics, four subtelocentrics and two acrocentrics) and 14 pairs of microchromosomes. The Ag-NOR is located in the telomeric region of the long arm of metacentric chromosome 2 and FISH revealed signals only in the telomeric region of all chromosomes. Further cytogenetic data on other amphisbaenians as well as a robust phylogenetic hypothesis of this clade is needed in order to understand the evolutionary changes on amphisbaenian karyotypes.