Karyotypes of Rana tagoi Okada with diploid number 28 in the Chausu Mountains of the Minamishinshu district of Nagano Prefecture, Japan (Anura: Ranidae).
Karyotypes of Tago's brown frog Rana tagoi from the Chausu mountains in Minamishinshu of Nagano Prefecture were examined by conventional Giemsa staining, C-banding and late replication (LR)-banding. Chromosome number was 2n = 28 in all cases. The 28 chromosomes consisted of four pairs (1-4) of large biarmed chromosomes, two pairs (5-6) of telocentric chromosomes and eight pairs (7-14) of small biarmed chromosomes. Chromosome pair 11 had a secondary constriction on the long arm. In females, the C-band on the long arm of chromosome pair 6 was detected in both homologs, but was absent from the arms of the homologs of chromosome pairs 5 and 9. In males, C-bands were found in the long arms of both homologs of chromosome pairs 5 and 6, were present only in one homolog of chromosome pair 5 for certain male specimens and found in only one homolog of chromosome pair 9. Specimens of R. tagoi (2n = 28) should thus have two pairs of telocentric chromosomes to provide the same number of chromosome arms, these originating quite likely from chromosome pair 1 in the 26-chromosome specimens by centric fission. Heteromorphic sex chromosomes of the XX-XY type in R. tagoi (2n = 28) in the Chausu mountains were identified. Karyotypes of tail-tip cells from a hybrid tadpole between female R. tagoi (2n = 26) from the Hinohara village in Tokyo and male R. tagoi (2n = 28) from the Chausu mountain population were examined by squash preparation. Chromosome number was 2n = 27 in all tadpoles. The 27 chromosomes consisted of one chromosome set of R. tagoi (2n = 28) and one of R. tagoi (2n = 26).