Cytogenetics of Hylodes and Crossodactylus species (Anura, Leptodactylidae) with comments on Hylodinae/Dendrobatidae relationships.

Abstract

The karyotype, nucleolar organizer region (NOR) location and C-banding pattern of two species of Hylodes (H. phyllodes and H. asper) and two of Crossodactylus (Crossodactylus sp. n. and Crossodactylus cf. caramaschi) were studied. All species had a diploid number of 2n = 26, with differences in the chromosomal morphology of the Hylodes species while the two Crossodactylus species were cytogenetically indistinguishable. The NOR was located on pair 1 in both species of Hylodes, and on pair 8 in the Crossodactylus species. In the latter, the NOR was heteromorphic between the homologues. The NOR was coincident with a secondary constriction in the four species. Except to H. phyllodes, such secondary constrictions were clearly seen strongly stained after C-banding treatment. The C-banding pattern varied between the two species of Hylodes, but was identical in the Crossodactylus species. The results from conventionally stained karyotypes confirmed the uniformity within the genus Crossodactylus, and the relatively conserved karyotypes within Hylodes, in agreement with other literature reports. We conclude that the cytogenetic data do not provide further evidence which could be useful to corroborate the supposed relationships between the hylodines and dendrobatids since there are no unambiguous homeologies between the karyotypes of these groups.