Karyotype of the lesser gymnure <i>Hylomys maxi</i> and comparison with its Vietnamese congeners (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Erinaceidae)

Abstract The male karyotype of Hylomys maxi has a diploid number (2n) of 46 chromosomes, with a medium-sized submetacentric X and a small acrocentric Y sex chromosomes. It has two chromosomes less than that of the Vietnamese taxa Hylomys peguensis microtinus and Hylomys macarong with 2n = 48, and differs particularly in the morphology of the second largest autosome – metacentric in H. maxi and submetacentric in the Vietnamese taxa. The karyotypes support the molecular findings that H. maxi and H. peguensis microtinus are not conspecific as members of H. suillus .