Great chromosomal variation among members of family Colubridae

Abstract

Cytological work was carried out on five common species of snakes of family Colubridae viz. Lycodon aulicus, Boiga trigonata, Ptyas mucosus, Oligodon arnensis and Natrix stolata collected from Botanical garden of Jammu Univ., Moh-Maya area and Bhaderwah Dist. of Jammu region (J&K). Ptyas musosus possesses 2n=34, Natrix stolata possess 2n=36, Lycodon aulicus have 2n=36, Boiga trigonata possess 2n=36 and Oligodon arnensis possess 2n=44. Except Natrix all the colubrid studied have no heteromorphic sex chromosomes. All the colubrids studied possess 2n=36 i.e typical ophidian karyotype except Oligodon arnensis which has 2n=44 and Ptyas mucosus which possess 2n=34 , number of macro and microchromosomes and thus NF varies among different members which can be attributed to para and pericentric inversions between macro and microcomplements.