Karyotype Determination of Rock Hyrax Procavia capensis in Saudi Arabia

Procavia capensis is considered as a small mammalian animal which belongs to order Hyracoidea, and it is the only species of the order that has been found in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, karyotype analysis of this species has been carried out and the finding summarized as follows. The diploid chromosome number is 54. In the karyotype analysis, the somatic chromosomes were categorized into three groups: 21 pairs of acrocentric, 2 pairs of submetacentric and 3 pairs of metacentric chromosomes. The sex chromosomes are one submetacentric X chromosome and one acrocentric Y chromosome. The lengths of chromosomes varied between 1.6-7.6 mu m, and the Y chromosome is the shortest. The FN is 65 in the male and 66 in the female, while the FNa is 62. The karyotype formula of Procavia capensis could be deduced as: (2n=54); La-14(a)+L-1(sm)+M-14(a)+M-2(sm)+S-15(a)+S-2(sm)+S-6(m)