Description of Karyotype of Kerodon acrobata, an endemic rodent in Brazilian Cerrado.

Ia Zappes,Gm Lessa,As Portella

doi:10.1590/1519-6984.23512

Abstract

Kerodon acrobata is a caviidae rodent endemic from Brazilian Cerrado. It was described only in 1997 and the data about it is very scarce. The aim of this work was to characterize the karyotype of K. acrobata. Giemsa staining, nucleolar organizer region (NOR) banding, C-positive heterochromatin banding and DAPI fluorescence were used in N metaphases of a specimen collected in Asa Branca Farm, in Aurora do Tocantins municipality, Tocantins state, Brazil. K. acrobata showed the same diploid number, fundamental number and chromosome morphology as Kerodon rupestris. But its NOR location and heterochromatin distribution patterns indicated a unique cytogenetic profile when compared to its sister species, emphasizing the evolutionary uniqueness of this relatively new and unknown species. This record also extends the distribution of this species northward.

Highlights

The suborder Hystricognathi, Caviidae (Gray, 1821) is one of the most vastly distributed families
At least 50 Giemsa-stained, 20 Ag-nucleolar organizer region (NOR), 10 C-banded and 10 DAPI fluorescence metaphases were analyzed for this animal
DAPI fluorescence showed this pattern for heterochromatin, with adenine-thymine richness in sexual pair of chromosomes

Summary

Introduction

The suborder Hystricognathi, Caviidae (Gray, 1821) is one of the most vastly distributed families. Kerodon was traditionally included within the subfamily Caviinae with guinea pigs and its relatives, but it is placed as sister genus from Hydrochoerus within the Hydrochoerinae subfamily, according to new molecular studies by Rowe and Honeycutt (2002). This subfamily occupies a wide array of habitats. Kerodon occupies dry forests of South America (Mares and Ojeda, 1982), but its phylogeny and occupation in central portion of this continent are uncertain. Genus Kerodon has two species: Kerodon rupestris (Wied, 1820) and Kerodon acrobata (Moojen et al, 1997)

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