Comparative study of the banding patterns of the chromosomes of Cercopithecidae. I. Subfamily Papinae: Macaca fascicularis and Papio sphinx.

The diploid number of Macaca fascicularis and Papio sphinx is 42. All chromosomes are biarmed. Using G-banding techniques, the complements of these two species have been compared. The topography of the bands is identical in all but one chromosome pair, showing a small pericentric inversion. The results indicate the existence of an extreme conservation in the arrangement of the genetic material and that changes at the gene level may have contributed to speciation in the Papinae.