The interrelationships of chromosome banding patterns in canids, mustelids, hyena, and felids

The G-banding patterns of six canids, four mustelids, one hyena, and 12 felids have been studied, and data from the study of 30 felids are summarized. The canids are karyotypically very similar to one another, but minor differences have tentatively been identified. The mustelids show the greatest karyotypic diversity of all the carnivore families so far studied. They do display, however, considerable G-band conservatism, as is common throughout the Order, and appear karyotypically more closely related to the Feloidea than to the Canoidea. The hyena shares many autosomes with the felids, showing a close relationship to that family. The felids are for the first time divisible into small groups or individually identifiable on the basis of 16 different karyotypic patterns.