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Blind mole rats are model organisms for studies of chromosomal evolution, and have a variety of chromosomal forms in Turkey. This study was performed on subterranean mole rats of Nannospalax xanthodon (Satunin, 1898) and N. ehrenbergi (Nehring, 1898) in Turkey. Karyotypes of 63 specimens originating from 30 localities were analysed. Two new cytotypes with 2n = 54 from Adana and 2n = 56 from Karaman, two different populations of the cytotypes 2n = 54C and 2n = 58S, and four different chromosomal arm numbers of the 2n = 60 cytotype (NF = 74, 76, 78 and 80) were determined in N. xanthodon. The cytotypes characterized by 2n = 54, NF = 74 from Tufanbeyli and Saimbeyli in the Adana province (54S), and by 2n = 56, NF = 70 from Karaman (56K) are new for N. xanthodon in Turkey. A population of N. ehrenbergi from the Osmaniye province in southern Anatolia had a complement with 2n = 56, NF = 70. Additional karyological records for other cytotypes have extended their known distribution areas, and filled most karyological gaps in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We performed this study on the subterranean mole rat Nannospalax xanthodon (Nehring, 1898) in western Turkey and we analyzed karyotypes of 121 specimens from 54 localities. We determined that N. xanthodon has 2n = 36, NF = 70; 2n = 38, NF = 74; 2n = 40, NF = 72; 2n = 50, NF = 70; 2n = 50, NF = 74; 2n = 52, NF = 70; 2n = 56, NF = 72; and 6 different cytotypes of 2n = 60, NF = 74, 76, 78, 80, 82, 84 in the specimens analyzed from western Turkey. We filled most of the karyological gaps in western Anatolia and documented distributional areas of cytotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]