Page 5 - 2009 Prospero hierae Phyton (1)
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A ••• .••...•,
L~
10 ~m
1l Il Il •I•l •• Il ••
B 11111111111111
Fig. 2. Prospero hierae. A - metaphase plate of mitotic chromosomes. B - karyogram
of the diploid set.
3.2. Chromosome Number
According to literature (BATTAGLIA 1952, 1957, 1964, HoNG 1982,
AINSWORTH & al. 1983, BARTOLO & al. 1984, GUILLEN & Rurz REJON 1984,
SPETA 1986, PARKER & al. 1991, ERBET & al. 1996 , GERACI & SCHICCHI 2002),
the chromosome complement in the genus Prospero (= Scilla autumnalis
s. l.) is extremely variable. The following basic chromosome numbers x= 4,
5, 6, 7 at different ploidy levels (2n = 8, 10, 12 , 14, 26, 28, 42, 56, 70) are
reported from various populations of the Mediterranean area . P. hierae is a
diploid species with a somatic chromosome number of 2n = 14. Its kar-
yotype is characterized by submetacentric and subtelocentric chromo-
somes except for the smallest pair of metacentric type. Two submetacentric
chromosomes show very long macrosatellites (Fig. 2). This arrangement
corresponds to the basic karyotype of P. autumnale (ERBET & al. 1996),
apart from the presence of a subtelocentric pair in place of a submeta-
centric one in the karyotype of P. hierae. The absolute chromosome length
ranges from 8.38 ± 0.3 JJm to 5.17 ± 0.22 JJm, while the arm ratio varies
from 1.31 to 4.23. The chromosome formula according to LEVAN & al. 1964
is 2n = 2x = 14: 2m + 6sm + 2smsat + 4st. As for the symmetry degree, all
