Chromosome studies in some members of the family Caviidae (Mammalia: Rodentia)

Abstract

A study of the chromosomes of Cavia aperea and Galea musteloides has been made following the introduction into captivity of these two cavies from Argentina. The evolutionary relationships of the two genera have been considered, and the possible ancestry of C. porcellus from C. aperea was investigated in hybrids of the two species.

A new karyotype for Cavia magna (Rodentia: Caviidae) from an estuarine island and C. aperea from adjacent mainland

“…Argentinean populations of C. aperea from Entre Rios (George et al 1972), Pernambuco, Brazil (Maia 1984), Morro Reuter, Rio Grande do Sul (Pantaleão 1978), lowland and Yungas forest in Bolivia (Dunnum and Salazar-Bravo 2006) and C. aperea from this study have a 2n=64. All these karyotypes exhibit a predominance of submetacentric chromosomes with almost terminal centromeres and short p arms, in contrast with the more centrally positioned centromeres of C. magna from Tramandaí (Pantaleão 1978), Marinheiros island (this study) and C. intermedia chromosomes (Gava et al 1998).…”

“…polymorphisms in C. porcellus (Awa et al 1959;Hsu and Pomerat 1953;Ohno et al 1961;Manna and Talukdar 1964;Cohen and Pinsky 1966;Fernández and Spotorno 1968;Bianchi and Ayres 1971); description of the karyotype of C. aperea from Entre Rios, Argentina (George et al 1972); G-and C-bands of C. aperea from Pernambuco, Brazil (Maia 1984); karyotypes of Cavia from the lowlands (C. aperea), eastern Andean versant (Cavia a. nana), and highlands (C. tschudii) of Bolivia (Dunnum and Salazar-Bravo 2006); and G-and C-bands as nucleolus-organizing region (Ag-NOR) impregnation of C. aff. magna chromosomes (Gava et al 1998).…”

A First Generation Comparative Chromosome Map between Guinea Pig (Cavia porcellus) and Humans

“…The painting probe sets developed from the guinea pig will also allow more incisive studies of hystricomorph chromosome evolution and allow comparison between hystricomorphs and other rodent taxa. There are very few studies that describe karyotypes of the closest relatives of guinea pig [ 67 , 68 , 69 ]. In general all members of the genus Cavia have a diploid number 2n = 64, except the island species C .…”

Molecular systematics, taxonomy and biogeography of the genus Cavia (Rodentia: Caviidae)

“…Although we were unable to obtain samples from all nominate forms, a large majority of taxa currently associated with Cavia were included in this study, thus our phylogeny represents the most geographically and taxonomically broad treatment for the genus to date. The single species not included was the Brazilian Moleques do Sul island form, C. intermedia , a guinea pig presumably with a close relationship to C. magna Ximenez, 1980, but possessing a diploid number of 62 (Gava et al 1998), unique among species in the genus Cavia (George et al 1972; Maia 1984; Dunnum and Salazar‐Bravo 2006). The four unsampled subspecies included the Peruvian C. tschudii stolida Thomas, (1926b) from Rio Utcubamba, Amazonas, a form considered by Hückinghaus (1961) to be a valid species, C. tschudii festina Thomas, (1927) from Huariaca, Junin, and the two eastern Brazilian subspecies C. aperea aperea Erxleben, (1777) (Pernambuco) and C. a. rosida Thomas, (1917) (Paraná).…”

“…Work on the genus since the 1960s has been limited to regional systematic and distributional studies in Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil (Massoia 1973; Ximenez 1980); karyological descriptions (Cohen and Pinsky 1966; George et al 1972; Pantaleão 1978; Maia 1984; Gava et al 1998; Dunnum and Salazar‐Bravo 2006); accounts in regional or country compilation works (Massoia and Fornes 1967; Husson 1978; Pine et al 1979; Eisenberg 1989; Eisenberg and Redford 1992; Anderson 1997; Linares 1998; Redford and Eisenberg 1999; Gonzales 2001); records of occurrence (Contreras 1972, 1980; Williams et al 1983); or reproductive and behavioral studies (Rood 1972; Sachser 1998; Sachser et al 1999; Kraus et al 2003; Asher et al 2004).…”