C-Banded Karyotype of Myocastor coypus (Molina, 1782) from Turkey (Mammalia: Rodentia)

Abstract

The present study reports the C-band patterns of chromosomes of Myocastor coypus fromTurkey. The karyotype of M. coypus is comprised of (2n) 42 chromosomes. the number of chromosomal arms (FN) was 83 and the number of autosomal arms (FNa) was 80. The X chromosome was a medium-sized metacentric and the Y chromosome was acrocentric and the smallest in the set. Two metacentric chromosomes have secondary constrictions. Most autosomes in this species were centromeric C-positive and some autosomes had telomeric C-bands. The X chromosome has centromeric heterochromatin, while the Y chromosome appeared to be entirely heterochromatic.