Karyological of the white-handed Gibbon, Hylobates lar (Primates, Hylobatidae) by conventional staining technique

Abstract

Karyotype of the white-handed gibbon (Hylobates lar) kept in Nakhonratchasima Zoo, was studied. Blood samples were taken from two female and two male gibbons. After lymphocyte culture, the mitotic chromosome preparation was done by air-drying method and conventional Giemsa’s staining. The results showed that diploid chromosome number was 2n=44 and the fundamental number (NF) were 88 chromosomes in both female and male. The autosomes consisted of 12 large metacentric, 8 medium metacentric, 4 medium submetacentric, 2 medium acrocentric, 8 small metacentric and 8 small submetacentric chromosomes. In addition, a pair of the long arm of chromosome 13 showed clearly observable satellite chromosomes. The X-chromosome was the medium submetacentric and the Y-chromosome was the smallest acrocentric chromosome.