Comparative cytogenetic and genetic study of two Italian populations of the garden dormouse Eliomys quercinus L. (Sciuromorpha: Gliridae)

The garden dormouse Eliomys quercinus is a polytypic species that shows remarkable chromosomal variation (2n = 48, 50, 52, 54). Furthermore, among 2n = 48 populations of the species, distributed mainly in the circum-Mediterranean area, different populations may exhibit distinctive karyotypes. Here we analyse samples of E. quercinus from Sicily, the insular population so far barely studied, compared to the samples from the Central Apennines. The two populations show the same cytotype (2n = 48, NFa = 86), matching G- and C- chromosome banding patterns, and identical chromosome locations of major ribosomal genes (rDNA) and interstitial telomeric sequences (ITS). The samples from the two Italian populations show low genetic divergence (1.2%) based on mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequence analysis, which suggests that both populations belong to the same taxon - E. quercinus pallidus. In addition, we compare the present results to karyological data reported in other 2n = 48 populations and identify possible chromosomal rearrangements.