Abstract
Three Lorisidae species (12 specimens in all) were studied cytologically: Arctocebus calabarensis, Nycticebus coucang and Perodicticus potto. Descriptions are given of the karyotypes found in these species and idiograms are presented. These data are compared with those previously reported while also the data available for the remaining two species of the family (Loris tardigradus and Nycticebus pygmaeus) are reviewed. Generally only minor differences exist between the results of this study and those of previous ones. One specimen of N. coucang however showed 52 chromosomes instead of the common diploid number of 50. In P. potto special attention was drawn to a marked system of chromosome associations.
Within the Lorisidae, the karyotypes of Perodicticus and Loris, both with the high diploid chromosome number of 62, are believed to be structurally close to the original karyotype in the family. Arctocebus (2n = 52) and Nycticebus (2n = 50,52) may have evolved from a common lineage, in which the original diploid number had been reduced to 52. This reduction may have taken place by the occurence of 10 centric fusion events.
Karyological relationships between the two Lorisoidea families, the Galagidae and the Lorisidae are discussed. A point of correspondence is the presence of karyotypes with 62 chromosomes in both groups, and probably they both evolved from a common ancestor with this diploid chromosome number. In view of the high fundamental numbers in all recent Lorisidae species, the early karyotypic evolution in this family must have been mainly influenced by mechanisms like pericentric inversion, translocations of small chromosome parts etc. In the Galagidae, on the other hand, the fundamental number, which must have been low in the original karyotype of the Lorisoidea, did not significantly increase in all except one species. In this family the karyotypic evolution was much more characterized by the occurrence of centric fusions. Thus, in spite of their common origin, fairly important differences exist between the present karyological characteristics of both families.
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The present cytological studies in primates are supported financially by a grant of the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (Z.W.O.)
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de Boer, L.E.M. Cytotaxonomy of the Lorisoidea (Primates: Prosimii). Genetica 44, 330–367 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00161312
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00161312