The karyology of various species from the family Lacertidae (Reptilia, Sauria) has been studied with conventional and C-banding techniques.
The study shows that this family is not so conservative from a karyological viewpoint as considered till now. In fact a higher diploid number than that generally observed in most species of Lacertidae and supernumerary chromosomes have been observed in three of the species investigated. Moreover an evident interand intraspecific variability has been found in the C-banding pattern of the various species studied. The situation found in Podarcis sicula is particularly remarkable. Different C-banding patterns have been observed in three different subspecies and in two populations of the same subspecies. These variations do not show a well defined trend and their role in the evolution of lacertid lizards is discussed.
The C-banding analysis evidences also the existence in two of the species studied of a female sex heteromorphism, in which the W chromosome has the same shape and size as the Z, but differs from it in being completely heterochromatic. This situation reminds that observed in some snakes and suggests that in lacertid lizards the evolution of sex chromosomes might have followed the same steps previously hypothesized for ophidians.