Evolutionary genetics and systematics of the garden dormouse, Eliomys Wagner, 1840. 4 ‐ Karyotype and allozyme analyses of E. quercinus dalmaticus from Yugoslavia

Abstract

The results of karyological and electrophoretic analyses of the garden dormouse, Eliomys quercinus dalmaticus, collected at two localities in Yugoslavia are reported. The karyotype consists of 48 chromosomes (FNa = 86). The chromosome morphology, as revealed by differential staining, is the same as in Eliomys quercinus pallidus from central Italy, but differs in two pairs of chromosomes from E. quercinus lusitanicus from Spain. Comparison between E. g. dalmaticus and other chromosomal races of the garden dormouse, by electrophoretic analysis of 41 gene loci, suggests a different origin for central European and Alpine populations

Key words:

• Eliomys quercinus
• Gliridae
• Karyotype evolution
• allozyme variation
• Phylogenetic relationships