Karyotype morphology suggests that the Nyctibius griseus (Gmelin, 1789) carries an ancestral ZW-chromosome pair to the order Caprimulgiformes (Aves)

Abstract

Studies of karyotype have been revealing important information on the taxonomic relationships and evolutionary patterns in various groups of birds. However, the order Caprimulgiformes is one of the least known in terms of its cytotaxonomy. So far, there are no cytogenetic data in the literature on birds belonging to 3 of 5 families of this order -Nyctibiidae, Steatornithidae and Aegothelidae. For this reason, the aim of our study was to describe the karyotype of Nyctibius griseus (Gmelin, 1789) (Aves, Nyctibiidae, Caprimulgiformes) and contribute with new data that could help to clarify the evolutionary relationships in this group. Bone marrow was cultured directly to obtain material for the chromosome study. C-banding was used to visualize the constitutive heterochromatin and Ag-NOR-banding to reveal nucleolar organizer regions. The diploid number observed was 2n=86±. Using sequential Giemsa/C-banding staining, we determined that the W chromosome was entirely C-band positive with the two most prominent markers in the interstitial and distal regions of the long arm. The nucleolar organizer regions showed up a typical location in a pair of microchromosomes that exhibited Ag-NOR.The results obtained for Nyctibius griseus suggest that, of all the species studied in the references cited, it is the most ancestral sex chromosome composition of the order Caprimulgiformes.