Multipolar Meiosis in Elephantulus

Abstract

ONE of the males used for a cytogenetical investigation of Elephantulus myurus jamesoni, the South African jumping shrew, showed a high incidence of multipolar meiotic divisions. This was not referred to in the original reports of the cytogenetics of Elephantulus^1,2 and is described below. In a count of a hundred first meiotic metaphases and anaphases, 75 per cent of the divisions were multipolar and, of these, the vast majority were divisions with tripolar spindles. Fig. 1 is a photomicrograph of a typical tripolar first meiotic metaphase.