The karyotypes of five species of Malagasy lemurs are described and compared with those of 12 previously studied species or subspecies. Based on these studies, phylogenetic relationships among nearly all the species of Cheirogaleidae and Lemuridae are proposed. The karyotype of the common ancestor is identical or very similar to that of Microcebus. Nearly 60 chromosomal changes, including five intrachromosomal rearrangements of the X chromosome, have been detected during the evolution of these two families. The possible evolutionary role of the different chromosomal rearrangements is discussed.
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