Whip spiders (Amblypygi) represent an ancient order of tetrapulmonate arachnids with a low diversity. Their cytogenetic data are confined to only a few reports. Here, we analyzed the family Charinidae, a lineage almost at the base of the amblypygids, providing an insight into the ancestral traits and basic trajectories of amblypygid karyotype evolution. We performed Giemsa staining, selected banding techniques, and detected 18S ribosomal DNA and telomeric repeats by fluorescence in situ hybridization in four Charinus and five Sarax species. Both genera exhibit a wide range of diploid chromosome numbers (2n = 42-76 and 22-74 for Charinus and Sarax, respectively). The 2n reduction was accompanied by an increase of proportion of biarmed elements. We further revealed a single NOR site (probably an ancestral condition for charinids), the presence of a (TTAGG)n telomeric motif localized mostly at the chromosome ends, and an absence of heteromorphic sex chromosomes. Our data collectively suggest a high pace of karyotype repatterning in amblypygids, with probably a high ancestral 2n and its subsequent gradual reduction by fusions, and the action of pericentric inversions, similarly to what has been proposed for neoamblypygids. The possible contribution of fissions to charinid karyotype repatterning, however, cannot be fully ruled out.

Arthropod Genetics Group The Pirbright Institute Ash Road Pirbright Woking GU24 0NF UK

Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences Institute of Entomology Branišovská 31 370 05 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Department of Zoology Faculty of Science Charles University Viničná 7 128 44 Prague Czech Republic

Laboratory of Arachnid Cytogenetics Department of Genetics and Microbiology Faculty of Science Charles University Viničná 5 128 44 Prague Czech Republic

Laboratory of Fish Genetics Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Czech Academy of Sciences Rumburská 89 277 21 Liběchov Czech Republic

Natural History Museum Vienna 3 Zoology Burgring 7 1010 Vienna Austria

Unit Integrative Zoology Department of Evolutionary Biology University of Vienna Djerassiplatz 1 1030 Vienna Austria

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Advances in Understanding the Karyotype Evolution of Tetrapulmonata and Two Other Arachnid Taxa, Ricinulei and Solifugae

Karyotype differentiation and male meiosis in European clades of the spider genus Pholcus (Araneae, Pholcidae)