CHROMOSOME CONSERVATION AMONG THE ADVANCED PECORANS AND DETERMINATIONOF THE PRIMITIVE BOVID KARYOTYPE

Extensive monobrachial QFH-band homologies were found among cattle (Bo vidae), pronghorn (Antilocapridae), Masai giraffe (Giraffidae), and mu le and whitetail deer (Cervidae). The deer species had identical karyo types (2n = 70, NAA = 70). Interfamily comparisons demonstrated that c attle (2n = 60, NAA = 58) and pronghorn (2n = 58, NAA = 60) were karyo typically the most similar. The giraffe possessed a 2n = 30, NAA = 54, and differed from the other artiodactyls by having a preponderance of biarmed autosomes. The primarily acrocentric deer karyotypes showed s everal chromosome arm disruptions relative to the other species. Compa rative cytogenetic data among the advanced pecorans strongly suggest t hat the 2n = 60, NAA = 58 karyotype found in several species of the tr ibe Bovini is probably near the primitive condition for the Bovidae. H owever, the ancestral conditions of the sex chromosomes within the Bov idae and among the advanced pecorans remain in question.