Karyotype of the Chinese soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis, from Japan and Taiwan, with chromosomal data for Dogania subplana.

Abstract

The male and female karyotypes were examined for 10 specimens of the Chinese soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis, from the main islands of Japan and Taiwan by the bone marrow air-dry technique. One specimen of Dogania subplana was also examined karyologically. Although both P. sinensis and D. subplana had 2n=66 chromosomes, they showed an interspecific variation in chromosome morphology. No karyotypical differences were evident between the Japanese and Taiwanese samples of P. sinensis, or within either of them. Comparisons of the present results with previously reported trionychine karyotypes indicate that there are some interspecific and intraspecific variations in centromeric positions of several macrochromosome pairs in this subfamily.