BANDING STUDIES IN THE VOLCANO RABBIT, ROMEROLAGUS DIAZI AND CRAWSHAY'S HARE LEPUS CRAWSHAYI. EVIDENCE OF THE LEPORID ANCESTRAL KARYOTYPE

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Abstract
G- and C-banded karyotypes are presented for the North American volcano rabbit, R. diazi and an African hare species, L. crawshayi. Both species are characterized by 2n = 48. While noticeable differences in the amounts of constitutive heterochromatin between the 2 taxa are apparent, the remarkable similarity of both chromosome morphology and G-banding pattern indicates a common evolutionary origin of the 2 genera. These observations support the hypothesis that the leporid ancestral karyotype was maintained in the hares and certain of the rabbit taxa.