Karyotypes of two Agamid species from Nigeria

Abstract

The karyotypes of the common rainbow lizard, Agama agama Lin. and a wild savanna forest relative were investigated, using the bone marrow red blood cells for mitotic chromosomes and the male gametocytes for meiotic chromosomes.  The somatic chromosome number of 2n = 44 was confirmed for the rainbow lizard while the relative was found to be 2n = 42.  A fundamental number {N.F.} of 46 and 48 respectively were established for them.  Chiasma frequency per complement in the two species showed significant difference.  High level of polyploidy was observed in the follicular cells among the spermatocytes of both species.