Chromosome Analysis and Morphometric of Intermediate Round leaf Bat, Hipposideros larvatus (Chiroptera, Hipposideridae) by Conventional, GTG-banding and Ag-NOR Banding Techniques

Chromosome analysis and morphometrics of the intermediate roundleaf bat (Hipposideros larvatus) from Northeast Thailand were studied. Bat chromosome preparations were conducted by squash technique from bone marrow and testis. Conventional staining, GTG-banding and Ag-NOR banding techniques were applied to stain the chromosomes. The results showed that the diploid chromosome number of H. larvatus was 2n=32, and the fundamental number (NF) was 66 in both males and females. The types of autosomes observed were 14 large metacentric, 2 large submetacentric, 4 medium metacentric, 4 medium submetacentric, 2 small metacentric, 2 small submetacentric, and 2 small telocentric chromosomes. The X-chromosome was a large submetacentric chromosome and the Y-chromosome was a small submetacentric chromosome. From the GTG-banding technique, the number of bands in H. larvatus was 159, and the location of each chromosome pair could be clearly differentiated. NORs are located at the secondary constriction near the centromere on the long arm of the large metacentric chromosome pair 8. We found that during metaphase I the homologous chromosomes showed synapsis, which can be defined as the 16 bivalents. Six external morphological characters were measured as well as 13 cranial and dental measurements. The karyotype formula of H. larvatus was as follows: 2n (44)=L-14(m)+L-2(sm)+M-4(m)+M-4(sm)+S-2(m)+S-2(sm)+S-2(t)+sex-chromosomes