Chromosome studies of house shrew, Suncus murinus murinus(Insectivora)

The karyotype of Zhejiang house shrew, Suncus murinus murinus in Xiaoshan has been studied from the chromosome preparations of bone marrow cell. The diploid chromosome number is 40, all autosomes are divided into four groups:8(m) +2(sm) +10 (st) + 18(t). X is a large sized metacentric or submetacentric chromosome. Y is a medium, sized metacentric or submetacentric chromosome. The G-banded, C-banded and silver-stained karyotypes have also been studied.The results show that each homologous pair has its own special G-banded patterns. C-bands are located at 10 pairs of chromosomes, among which 4 pairs are metacentrics, 5 pairs are subtelocentrics, the others are X and Y chromosome. According to the characteristics of banded patterns, the idiograms of G-banded and C-banded karyotypes were depicted, the chromosomes of G-banded and C-banded patterns were analyzed. Ag-NORs are predominately located at one pair of submetacentric and 2 pairs of subtelocentrics. In comparison with the chromosomes of the house shrew in the other parts of Asia, we found that G-banded and C-banded karyotypes of Chinese house shrew show certain differences from thpse of other Asiatic taxa.