Chromosomal polymorphism in sand gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa marica).

A total of 84 Gazella subgutturosa from three captive populations (two in Saudi Arabia, one in Qatar) were karyotyped. The number of chromosomes is 33, 32, or 31 for the males and 32, 31, or 30 for the females because of the X-autosome translocation that is common in the genus and a centric fusion between the two pairs of acrocentric chromosomes. The G- and R-banded karyotypes of gazelles translocated show that this fusion is the same as that previously reported for gazelles from Jordan. The precise origin of these populations is not known, but in every case the first animals are said to come from the wild in Saudi Arabia. This chromosomal translocation appears to be a populational polymorphism and not the result of hybridization between two different subspecies of G. subgutturosa.