We analysed the karyotypes of two African killifish species, Chromaphyosemion poliaki and C. volcanum, using Giemsa staining, fluorescence banding with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) and chromomycin A3 (CMA3), C-banding and AgNO3-staining. Both species shared the same karyotype with 2n = 38 chromosomes and NF = 40 chromosome arms, comprising one pair of subtelocentric and 18 pairs of telocentric chromosomes. While some intraspecific variability in C-banding patterns and NOR phenotypes was observed, no fixed interspecific karyotypic or chromosomal differences were revealed. This finding is quite exceptional within the karyotypically highly diverse genus Chromaphyosemion. Our findings do not provide cytotaxonomic evidence for the distinctness of C. poliaki, whose validity has recently been called into question by a molecular phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA.

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