Cytogenetic comparison and phylogeny of three species of Hylobatidae.
Representatives of three subgenera of Hylobatidae, Hylobates (Symphalangus) syndactylus, H. (Nomascus) concolor and H. (Hylobates) agilis were compared karyotypically by G-banding, and silver staining. A greater degree of similarity (30-55%) was found among these groups than previous reports suggest; however, these figures are still considerably lower than chromosome similarities characteristic of all other catarrhine groups. Inversion, translocation, fission, and fusion have all played a role in restructuring hylobatid chromosomes since a common hominoid ancestor. H. syndactylus and H. concolor show the greatest G-band correspondence, and in addition share an unusual C-band distribution and an extremely rare nucleolar organizing region placement (on the Y chromosome). The latter two are probably shared derived traits, suggesting that these two species shared a common ancestor not shared by other hylobatids. These data suggest a branching order for these three hylobatid groups different from those derived by other morphological and biochemical methods.
D000818:Animals; D002871:Chromosome Banding; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015186:Hominidae / Q000235:genetics*; D006922:Hylobates / Q000235:genetics*; D007621:Karyotyping; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D013045:Species Specificity