347 * Corresponding author Folia Zool. – 57(4): 347–357 (2008) Karyotypes of three species of molossid bats (Molossidae, Chiroptera) from India and western Africa K.S. SREEPADA 1 , Darina KOUBÍNOVÁ 2 , Adam Konečný 3,5,6 , Petr KOUBEK 3 , Petr RÁB 4 , Marie RÁBOVÁ 4 and Jan ZiMA 2,3 * 1 Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mangalagangotri – 574 199, Karnataka, India; e-mail: sri_kpada@yahoo.co.in 2 Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ-128 44 Praha, Czech Republic; e-mail: darina.koubinova@gmail.com 3 Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Květná 8, CZ-603 65 Brno, Czech Republic; e-mails: koubek@brno.cas.cz; jzima@brno.cas.cz 4 Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Rumburská 89, CZ-277 21 Liběchov, Czech Republic; e-mail: rab@iapg.cas.cz; rabova@iapg.cas.cz 5 Institute of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, CZ-611 37 Brno, Czech Republic; e-mail: konada@post.cz 6 Centre de Biologie et de Gestion des Populations (UMR 22), INRA-IRD, Campus International de Baillarguet, CS 30016, 34988 Montferrier sur Lez cedex, France Received 23 July 2007; Accepted 26 September 2008 A b s t r a c t . Conventional and G- banded karyotypes are reported for three species of molossid bats from india (Chaerephon plicatus) and Senegal (Ch. pumilus, Mops condylurus). The chromosome diploid number 2n = 48 and the number of chromosomal arms FN= 54 were recorded, similarly as in the previous published reports on karyology of molossid bats from Thailand, East Malaysia, and Africa. A synopsis of karyotypes of bats of the family Molossidae is presented with comments on their chromosomal evolution. Key words: karyotype evolution, chromosome banding Introduction Bats of the family Molossidae are widely distributed in warm regions of both the Old World and the New World. The family comprises two subfamilies, 16 genera, and about 100 species (S i m m o n s 2005). There are 40 species recorded in Africa (V a n C a c k e n b e r g h e & S e a m a r k 2008) and about 17 species in southern and southeastern Asia (C o r b e t & H i l l 1992, B a t e s & H a r r i s o n 1997). After a pioneer study by P a i n t e r (1925), many species of molossid bats were examined karyologically. Karyotype data are currently available for molossid bats from America (e.g. W a r n e r et al. 1974, B a k e r et al. 1982), Africa (e.g. u l i ć & M u t e r e 1973, P e t e r s o n & N a g o r s e n 1975, N a g o r s e n et al. 1976, S m i t h et al. 1986, R a u t e n b a c h et al. 1993), Australia (V o l l e t h et al. 2002), Thailand (T s u c h i y a et al. 1979, H a r a d a et al. 1982), Malaysia (H a r a d a & K o b a y a s h i 1980), central and eastern Asia (Z h a n g 1985, O n o & O b a r a 1989, Z i m a et al. 1991, W u et al. 2004), and europe (D u l i ć & M r a k o v  i ć 1980, A r r o y o n o m b e l a et al. 1986). The molossid bats were investigated in chromosome banding studies (B a k e r et al. 1982,