New insights into sex chromosome evolution in anole lizards (Reptilia, Dactyloidae).

Anoles are a clade of iguanian lizards that underwent an extensive radiation between 125 and 65 million years ago. Their karyotypes show wide variation in diploid number spanning from 26 (Anolis evermanni) to 44 (A. insolitus).

Chromosomal study of a lamprey (Lampetra zanandreai Vladykov, 1955) (Petromyzonida: Petromyzontiformes): conventional and FISH analysis.

Karyotype and other chromosomal characteristics in the Adriatic brook lamprey Lampetra zanandreai, representative of one of the most ancestral group of vertebrates, were examined using conventional (Ag-staining, C-banding as well as CMA(3) and DAPI fluorescence) and molecular (FISH with 18/28S rDNA and EcoRI satDNA as probes) protocols with metaphase chromosomes derived from whole blood cultures. The chromosome complement had a modal diploid chromosome number of 2n = 164, as in other petromyzontid lamprey species. Ag-staining and CMA(3) fluorescence, as well as FISH with 18/28S rDNA probes, detected nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) close to the centromeres of the biarmed chromosomes of pairs 1 and 2, the largest chromosome pairs of the complement.

Skinks (Reptilia: Scincidae) have highly conserved karyotypes as revealed by chromosome painting.

Skinks represent the most diversified squamate reptiles with a great variation in body size and form, and are found worldwide in a variety of habitats. Their remarkable diversification has been accompanied by only a few chromosome rearrangements, resulting in highly-conservative chromosomal complements of these lizards. In this study cross-species chromosome painting using Scincus scincus (2n = 32) as the source genome, was used to detect the chromosomal rearrangements and homologies between the following skinks: Chalcides chalcides (2n = 28), C.

Molecular phylogeny of the three paedomorphic Mediterranean gobies (Perciformes: Gobiidae).

Pelagic gobies are considered of particular zoological interest because the acquisition of a pelagic lifestyle is achieved through the persistence of larval anatomical features. The Mediterranean Sea is inhabited by three goby species (Aphia minuta, Crystallogobius linearis and Pseudaphya ferreri) characterized by paedomorphic traits. Owing to the shared larval morphological features, these species have generally been considered as a monophyletic group.

Phylogeographic inferences from the mtDNA variation of the three-toed skink, Chalcides chalcides (Reptilia: Scincidae).

Genetic diversity was analyzed in Chalcides chalcides populations from peninsular Italy, Sardinia, Sicily and Tunisia by sequencing 400 bp at the 5' end of the mitochondrial gene encoding cytochrome b (cyt b) and by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of two mitochondrial DNA segments (ND-1/2 and ND-3/4). The results of the phylogenetic analysis highlighted the presence of three main clades corresponding with three of the four main geographical areas (Tunisia, Sicily and the Italian peninsula), while Sardinia proved to be closely related to Tunisian haplotypes suggesting a colonization of this island from North Africa by human agency in historical times. On the contrary, the splitting times estimated on the basis of cyt b sequence data seem to indicate a more ancient colonization of Sicily and the Italian Peninsula, as a consequence of tectonic and climatic events that affected the Mediterranean Basin during the Pleistocene.