Cytogenetic description of the Amazonian brown brocket Mazama nemorivaga (Artiodactyla, Cervidae)

Abstract. The Amazonian brown brocket Mazama nemorivaga (Cuvier, 1817) is a small to medium-sized deer from the Amazon rainforest and ecotones. The first karyotype described was 2n=67 to 69 + 2-7 B and FN= 69-72, in which all chromosomes were acrocentric and the X chromosome was the only submetacentric chromosome. However, important aspects of the species chromosome evolution were not resolved because of the lack of information on chromosome banding. The G-banding pattern of Mazama nemorivaga karyotype showed the presence of an XX/XY(1)Y(2) sex chromosome system as a product of an X-autosome tandem fusion, which results in a basic 2n=68, FN=70 in females and 2n= 69, FN=70 in males. The fact that this karyotype only differs from that of Capreolus capreolus pygargus (Pallas, 1771; 2n=70, FN=72+B) by X-autosome tandem fusion may corroborate the basal condition of Mazama nemorivaga and its proximity to the ancestral karyotype of the American Odocoileini. A derived karyotype 2n=67, XY(1)Y(2), FN=70 + 3B from the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso (the western Amazon) may be evidence of differentiation between western and eastern populations.