Karyotypic studies have been made of two species of South American snakes, Boa constrictor amarali and Bothrops jararaca. Both have 36 chromosomes; 16 macrochromosomes and 20 microchromosomes. While no morphological difference is discernible between the mitotic chromosome complements of the male and the female Boa constrictor amarali, a heteromorphic pair is evident in the female jararaca, in which the subterminal W is distinctly smaller than the mediocentric Z. Thus female heterogamety of the ZZ-ZW type is cytologically recognizable in Bothrops jararaca.
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Beçak et al. (1962) studied this question.
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