Karyotypic studies of two Brazilian species of the genus Micrurus (Ophidia: Elapidae)

Abstract

The karyotypes of two brazilian species of coral snakes (Ophidia: Elapidae): Micrurus corallinus and M. ibiboboca are described for the first time. Cytological preparations were obtained through the technique of squashing, followed by conventional Giemsa staining. The diploid number for Micrurus corallinus was 40 chromosomes with a karyotype formulae 40 (4; 16; 20) with a secondary constriction in the second pair of subtelocentric macrochromosomes. Micrurus ibiboboca is described by the formulae 42 (2; 20; 20) with 2n = 42 with a secondary constriction in the first pair of telocentric macrochromosomes. The karyotypes of M. corallinus and M. ibiboboca present aspects similar to M. lemniscatus and M. surinamensis, the only previously analyzed species of this genus in South America. These four species have the same number of microchromosomes (20), the largest number of telocentric or subtelocentric macrochromosomes and the largest diploid numbers (2n) ever found in the genus Micrurus. These characteristics differ from those of the nine known species of Central America.