Chromidotilapiini

Ozouf-Costaz, Catherine, Coutanceau, Jean-Pierre, Bonillo, Céline, Mercot, Hervé, Fermon, Yves & Guidi-Rontani, Chantal, 2017, New insights into the chromosomal differentiation patterns among cichlids from Africa and Madagascar, Cybium 41 (1), pp. 35-43 : 39

Tribe Chromidotilapiini

Chromidotilapia guntheri guntheri belongs to the tribe Chromidotilapiini , the most species rich ancient African cichlid lineage, including 48 described species and 10 genera. This species has a wide distribution throughout West Africa. Their ancient divergence predates the origin of the highly diverse austro-tilapine lineage, comprising the majority of African cichlid species ( Schwarzer et al., 2015). The karyotype of C. guntheri guntheri (2n = 48) is exclusively composed of acrocentric chromosomes. It is very close to the diploid number of 50 acrocentric chromosomes, which is proposed as the hypothetical ancestral chromosome number for teleost fishes ( Nakatani et al., 2007). The reduction to 48 chromosomes is certainly the result of a tandem fusion between two acrocentric chromosomes, giving rise to the first, big acrocentric chromosome. Its morphology evokes the typical large acrocentric pair observed in almost all species of Tilapiini , and considered as a signature for this tribe ( Poletto et al., 2010). Available information concerning the karyotypes of Chromidotilapiini is scarce. Only the karyotype of Pelvicachromis pulcher (2n = 48) has been published ( Post, 1965).