CHROMOSOME CONSERVATION AMONG THE ADVANCED PECORANS AND DETERMINATION OF THE PRIMITIVE BOVID KARYOTYPE

Extensive monobrachial QFH-band homologies were found among cattle (Bovidae), pronghorn (Antilocapridae), Masai giraffe (Giraffidae), and mule and whitetail deer (Cervidae). The deer species had identical karyotypes (2n = 70, NAA = 70). Interfamily comparisons demonstrated that cattle (2n = 60, NAA = 58) and pronghorn (2n = 58, NAA = 60) were karyotypically the most similar. The giraffe possessed a 2n = 30, NAA = 54, and differed from the other artiodactyls by having a preponderance of biarmed autosomes. The primarily acrocentric deer karyotypes showed several chromosome arm disruptions relative to the other species. Comparative cytogenetic data among the advanced pecorans strongly suggest that the 2n = 60, NAA = 58 karyotype found in several species of the tribe Bovini is probably near the primitive condition for the Bovidae. However, the ancestral conditions of the sex chromosomes within the Bovidae and among the advanced pecorans remain in question.