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Skorinov D. ., Pasynkova R. A., Litvinchuk S. N. Karyotype diversity of Palearctic toads of the family Bufonidae (Anura, Amphibia). Current Studies in Herpetology, 2025, vol. 25, iss. 3, pp. 210-214. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18500/1814-6090-2025-25-3-4-210-214
Karyotype diversity of Palearctic toads of the family Bufonidae (Anura, Amphibia)
We analyzed the karyotypes of the most toad species of the family Bufonidae inhabiting the Palearctic (6 genera, 29 species). All diploid species had 11 chromosome pairs. In most of them (Bufo, Bufotes and Barbarophryne) the nucleolar organizer (NOR) was located on the 6th pair and only in few species of the genus Bufotes on the 5th one, Strauchbufo – on the 4th, Epidalea – on the 11th, and Sclerophrys – on the 10th one, respectively. In addition, the karyotypes of some species differed by differential staining and morphology of chromosomes. In the genus Bufotes we observed the greatest diversity of karyotypes among diploid, triploid and tetraploid species. While in the genus Bufo, interspecies differences were mainly in the number of metacentric and submetacentric chromosome pairs, and only B. eichwaldi and B. spinosus had noticeable differences in fluorescent staining and morphology. The sex chromosomes in almost all species were homomorphic (XY or ZW systems).
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