Caryologia. International Journal of Cytology, Cytosystematics and Cytogenetics 75(2): 5-13, 2022 Firenze University Press www.fupress.com/caryologia ISSN 0008-7114 (print) | ISSN 2165-5391 (online) | DOI: 10.36253/caryologia-1314 Caryologia International Journal of Cytology, Cytosystematics and Cytogenetics Citation: Piyaporn Saensouk, Surapon Saensouk, Rattanavalee Senavongse (2022) Cytogenetic Studies of Six Species in Family Araceae from Thailand. Car- yologia 75(2): 5-13. doi: 10.36253/caryo- logia-1314 Received: May 14, 2021 Accepted: May 20, 2022 Published: September 21, 2022 Copyright: © 2022 Piyaporn Saensouk, Surapon Saensouk, Rattanavalee Senavongse. This is an open access, peer-reviewed article published by Firenze University Press (http://www. fupress.com/caryologia) and distributed under the terms of the Creative Com- mons Attribution License, which per- mits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All rel- evant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Competing Interests: The Author(s) declare(s) no conflict of interest. Cytogenetic Studies of Six Species in Family Araceae from Thailand Piyaporn Saensouk1, Surapon Saensouk2,*, Rattanavalee Senavongse2 1 Plant and Invertebrate Taxonomy and Its Applications Unit Group, Department of biol- ogy, Faculty of Science, Mahasarakham University, Kantharawichai, Maha Sarakham, 44150, Thailand 2 Plant and Invertebrate Taxonomy and Its Applications Unit Group, Biodiversity Pro- gram, WalaiRukhavejBotanical Research Institute, Mahasarakham University, Kantara- wichai, Maha Sarakham, 44150, Thailand *Corresponding author. E-mail: surapon.s@msu.ac.th Abstract. The chromosome numbers and karyotypes of six species belonging to five genera of the family Araceae distributed in natural areas from Thailand were ana- lyzed. These species are Aglaonema modestum Schott ex Engl., Ag. simplex (Blume) Blume, Amorphophallus serrulatus Hett. & A. Galloway, Arisaema maxwellii Hett. & Gusman, Hapaline benthamiana Schott and Homalonema griffithii (Schott) Hook.f. Three of them (Ag. simplex, Am. serrulatus and Ar. maxwellii) are not common and endemic species in Thailand. The chromosome number and karyotypes of all species were determined as Ag. modestum 2n = 40 with karyotype to be 20m + 14sm + 6st, Ag. simplex 2n = 42 with karyotype to be 6m + 26sm + 10st, Am. serrulatus 2n = 26 with karyotype to be 12m + 6sm + 8st and two satellite chromosomes, Ar. maxwellii 2n = 24 with karyotype to be 22m + 2sm and two satellite chromosomes, Ha. benthamiana 2n = 26 with karyotype to be 26m and one satellite chromosome and Ho. griffithii 2n = 40 with karyotype to be 30m + 10sm and two satellite chromosomes. Karyotype analysis indicated that six species of family Araceae generally have metacentric, submetacen- tric and subtelocentric chromosomes. In addition, satellites were observed in Am. ser- rulatus, Ar. maxwellii, Ha. benthamiana and Ho. griffithii. The chromosome numbers from three species of them and karyotypes from five species of them in this study were determined for the first time in this study. These cytogenetic studies of this report can be used for classification of six species in the family Araceae. Keywords: Araceae, Chromosome number, First report, Karyotype, Satellite, Thailand. INTRODUCTION Family Araceae is the largest primitive monocot family and the most diverse (Grayum 1990; Boyce et al. 2012; Nauheimer et al. 2012). Currently, 120 genera and more than 3,800 species are recognized in worldwide. This family is distributed in tropical regions of North and South America, Asia and throughout tropical western pacific and eastern Australia, tropical Afri- ca, temperate Eurasia, southern Africa, Madagascar and Seychelles (Mayo et 6 Piyaporn Saensouk, Surapon Saensouk, Rattanavalee Senavongse al.1997; Boyce et al. 2012). In Thailand, 30 genera with about 210 species of family Araceae are reported by Boyce et al. (2012). The traditionally uses of this fam- ily are found to be local food, ornamental plants and medicinal plants (Boyce et al. 2012). The status of cytogenetic data is vital for taxonomic decision-making and biosystematic investigations (Stace 2000). Classical cytological techniques and fundamen- tals are still an excellent starting point for basic plant cy togenetic studies. The chromosome numbers and chromosome characteristics can be used to identify the genetic diversity and phylogenetic information (Jahier 1996; Stace 2000; Guerra 2008; Figueroa and Bass 2010). A few years ago, the authors collected specimens of the family Araceae in Thailand for study diversity and the chromosomes and found that the not common six species in this study – Ag. modestum Schott ex Engl., Ag. simplex (Blume) Blume, Am. serrulatus Hett. & A. Galloway, Ar. maxwellii Hett. & Gusman, Ar. maxwellii Hett. & Gusman, Ha. benthamiana Schott, and Ho. grif- fithii (Schott) Hook.f. were reported to use for daily life in the Thai communities. Ag. modestum Schott ex Engl. is used as an ornamental and medicinal plant (Boyce et al. 2012). Ag. simplex (Blume) Blume is reported con- servation status from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to be a least concern (LC) species (Allen 2011). Am. serrulatus Hett. & A. Galloway is an endemic spe- cies in Thailand (Boyce et al. 2012). Ar. maxwellii Hett. & Gusman is reported conservation status in IUCN red list to be  Vulnerable species (VU) and it is reported to be a rare species from Thailand which is presented in the book title threatened plants in Thailand (Chamchum- roon et al. 2017). Ha. benthamiana Schott is used as traditional food in Thailand (Boyce et al. 2012). Ho. grif- fithii (Schott) Hook.f. is mainly distributed in the south of Thailand and used as an ornamental plant (Boyce et al. 2012). The chromosome numbers and karyotypes of few species from family Araceae was studied by few bot- anists – Larsen 1969; Okada 1982; Okada 2000; Chen et al. 2003; Eksomtramage et al. 2007; Liu et al. 2010; Sen- avongse et al. 2018; Saensouk et al. 2019 and Senavongse et al. 2020. This study is expected to find more new information of plant chromosome. Therefore, the aims of this study are to study the chromosome numbers and karyotypes of the six species of Araceae in Thailand. MATERIALS AND METHODS Six species of Araceae in Thailand, namely Ag. mod- estum Schott ex Engl. (coll. no. R. Senavongse 001/2016), Ag. simplex (Blume) Blume (coll. no. R. Senavongse 006/2016), Am. serrulatus Hett. & A. Galloway (coll. no. R. Senavongse 031/2016), Ar. maxwellii Hett. & Gusman (coll. no. R. Senavongse 036/2016), Ha. benthamiana Schott (coll. no. R. Senavongse 056/2016) and Ho. grif- fithii (Schott) Hook.f. (coll. no. R. Senavongse 061/2016) were collected from the field in Thailand (Table 1) and voucher specimens were deposited in the Mahasara- kham University Herbarium (MSU) All fresh speci- mens were grown in a nursery at the Walai Rukhavej Botanical Research Institute, Mahasarakham Univer- sity, Maha Sarakham Province, Thailand. The chromo- some numbers study follows Saensouk et al. (2019) and Senavongse et al. (2018, 2020). The nomenclature of the chromosome morphology follows the classification of Levan et al. (1964). The classification of the karyo- type symmetry degree is proposed by following Steb- bins (1971). The diploid chromosome numbers of each species in this study are counted from 20 cells. For the arrangement of the karyotypes the following param- eters such as average length of the short arm (Ls), aver- age length of the long arm (Ll), length of each chromo- some (LT), average measurement of relative length (RL), chromosome index (CI), standard deviation (SD) of RL and CI from metaphase chromosomes were calculated by methods of Saensouk et al. (2019) and Senavongse et al. (2018, 2020). RESULT AND DISCUSSION The chromosome number, chromosome length range, haploid chromosome length, arm ratio, relative length, and karyotype formula were determined from 20 metaphase cells in each species. The diploid chromo- some numbers in this study are reported as 24–42 chro- mosomes (Table 1; Figure 1). The characteristics of kar- yotype of examined six species in family Araceae from Thailand is are given below (Table 1; Figure 2). The somatic chromosome number of Ag. modes- tum was found to be 2n = 40 and Fundamental num- ber (NF) = 80 (Figure 1(A)). The karyotype formula was 20m + 14sm + 6st including 10 pairs including meta- centric chromosomes, seven pairs of submetacentric chromosomes and three pairs of subtelocentric chro- mosomes. It has an asymmetrical karyotype due to the karyotype formula ratio (symmetrical karyotype com- prise of metacentric and submetacentric chromosome and asymmetrical karyotype comprise of metacentric, submetacentric, subtelocentric and telocentric chro- mosome). The short arm chromosome length ranged from 1.01±0.01 to 4.72±0.02 μm, the long arm chromo- some length ranged from 2.13±0.01 to 5.07±0.03 μm, the 7Cytogenetic Studies of Six Species in Family Araceae from Thailand total arm chromosome length ranged from 3.14±0.02 to 9.79±0.05 μm. Relative lengths were 2.50–7.79 %. Cen- tromeric indexes were 0.53–0.77 (Table 2; Figure 2(A)). The somatic chromosome number of Ag. modestum in this study differs from earlier reported (Chen et al. 2003 2n = 60; Eksomtramage et al. 2007, 2n = 80). Whereas, the somatic chromosome number of this species in this study was corresponding to the previous reported by Liu et al. (2010) and they reported the karyotype to be 22m + 18sm, which differs from this study (Table 1). Table 1. Summarizes of the cytogenetic reviews of studies in six species of the Araceae family in Thailand. Species Localities 2n Karyotype formulas Previous recorded 2n Karyotype formulas Author Ag. modestum Loei 40 20m+14s+ 6st 60 80 40 - - 22m+18sm Chen et al. (2003) Eksomtramage et al. (2007) Liu et al. (2010) Ag. simplex Kalasin 42** 6m+26sm+10st 42 - Larsen (1969) Am. serrulatus Ubon Ratchathani 26*,** 12m+6sm+8st - - - Ar. maxwellii Changmai 24*,** 22m+2sm - - - Ha. benthamiana Chaiyaphum 26** 26m 13 26 Larsen (1969) Ho. griffithii Songkhla 40** 30m+10sm 40 - Okada (1982) Okada (2000) * = new report chromosome numbers for the first time. ** = new report karyotype for the first time. Figure 1. Microphotographs of somatic metaphase plate of Ag. modestum (A), Ag. simplex (arrow = non chromosome) (B), Am. serrulatus (C), Ar. maxwellii (D), Ha. benthamiana (E) and Ho. griffithii (F). Scale bars = 10 µm. 8 Piyaporn Saensouk, Surapon Saensouk, Rattanavalee Senavongse The somatic chromosome number of Ag. simplex were 2n = 42 and NF = 84 (Figure 1(B)). The karyo- type formula was 6m + 26sm + 10st including 21 pairs, which comprised three pairs of metacentric chromo- somes, 13 pairs of submetacentric chromosomes and five pairs of subtelocentric chromosomes. It has an asymmetrical karyotype due to the karyotype formula ratio. The short arm chromosome length ranged from 0.83±0.00 to 2.97±0.01 μm, the long arm chromosome length ranged from 2.80±0.01 to 7.50±0.03 μm, the total arm chromosome length ranged from 3.63±0.02 to 10.48±0.055 μm. Relative lengths were 2.21–6.37 %. Cen- tromeric indexes were 0.51–0.75 (Table 3; Figure 2(B)). The somatic chromosome number of this species in this study was corresponding to the previous reported by Larsen (1969). The karyotype of Ag.simplex in this study is reported for the first time. The somatic chromosome number of Am. serrulatus were found as 2n = 26 and NF = 52 (Figure 1(C)). The karyotype formula was asymmetrical karyotype due to Figure 2. Karyotypes by conventional staining. Ag. modestum (A), Ag. simplex (B), Am. serrulatus (C), Ar. maxwellii (D), Ha. benthamiana (E) and Ho. griffithii (F). Arrows in C-F indicate satellite. Scale bar = 10µm. 9Cytogenetic Studies of Six Species in Family Araceae from Thailand Table 2. Mean length of short arm chromosome (Ls), long arm chromosome (Ll), total arm chromosome (LT), relative length (RL), centro- meric index (CI) and standard deviation (SD) of RL, CI from 20 metaphases of Ag. modestum (2n=40). Chromosome pair Ls±SD (µm) Ll±SD (µm) LT±SD (µm) RL (%) CI Chromosome type 1 4.72±0.02 5.07±0.03 9.79±0.05 7.79 0.53 Metacentric 2 3.72±0.01 4.96±0.03 8.68±0.04 6.91 0.58 Metacentric 3 4.12±0.02 4.39±0.03 8.51±0.04 6.78 0.56 Metacentric 4 1.70±0.01 5.92±0.03 7.62±0.04 6.06 0.77 Subtelocentric 5 1.96±0.01 4.89±0.03 6.85±0.04 5.45 0.69 Submetacentric 6 3.10±0.01 3.59±0.02 6.68±0.04 5.32 0.54 Metacentric 7 2.71±0.01 3.84±0.02 6.55±0.04 5.22 0.58 Metacentric 8 2.49±0.01 3.89±0.03 6.38±0.03 5.08 0.56 Metacentric 9 3.03±0.02 3.32±0.02 6.35±0.03 5.06 0.59 Metacentric 10 2.52±0.01 3.64±0.02 6.16±0.03 4.90 0.57 Metacentric 11 1.46±0.01 4.68±0.02 6.14±0.03 4.89 0.72 Subtelocentric 12 1.78±0.01 4.32±0.02 6.11±0.03 4.86 0.74 Subtelocentric 13 1.98±0.01 4.12±0.02 6.10±0.03 4.86 0.59 Metacentric 14 2.23±0.01 3.70±0.02 5.94±0.03 4.73 0.62 Submetacentric 15 2.29±0.01 3.46±0.02 5.75±0.03 4.58 0.62 Submetacentric 16 2.15±0.01 3.09±0.02 5.23±0.03 4.17 0.63 Submetacentric 17 2.13±0.01 3.00±0.02 5.13±0.03 4.08 0.61 Submetacentric 18 2.10±0.01 2.50±0.01 4.60±0.02 3.66 0.60 Submetacentric 19 1.33±0.01 2.59±0.01 3.92±0.02 3.12 0.61 Submetacentric 20 1.01±0.01 2.13±0.01 3.14±0.02 2.50 0.59 Metacentric Table 3. Mean length of short arm chromosome (Ls), long arm chromosome (Ll), total arm chromosome (LT), relative length (RL), cen- tromeric index (CI) and standard deviation (SD) of RL, CI from 20 metaphases of Ag. simplex (2n=42). Chromosome pair Ls±SD (µm) Ll±SD (µm) LT±SD (µm) RL (%) CI Chromosome type 1 2.97±0.01 7.50±0.03 10.48±0.05 6.37 0.64 Submetacentric 2 2.58±0.01 7.41±0.03 9.98±0.04 6.07 0.66 Submetacentric 3 3.12±0.01 6.61±0.03 9.73±0.04 5.92 0.65 Submetacentric 4 1.86±0.01 7.83±0.03 9.69±0.04 5.89 0.75 Subtelocentric 5 2.55±0.01 6.60±0.03 9.16±0.04 5.57 0.69 Submetacentric 6 2.52±0.01 6.62±0.03 9.14±0.04 5.56 0.66 Submetacentric 7 2.37±0.01 6.56±0.03 8.93±0.04 5.43 0.75 Subtelocentric 8 1.74±0.01 7.07±0.03 8.81±0.04 5.36 0.60 Submetacentric 9 3.60±0.02 5.17±0.02 8.77±0.04 5.33 0.51 Metacentric 10 3.61±0.02 4.83±0.02 8.44±0.04 5.13 0.64 Submetacentric 11 2.58±0.01 5.66±0.03 8.23±0.04 5.01 0.55 Metacentric 12 3.10±0.01 5.02±0.02 8.12±0.04 4.94 0.70 Subtelocentric 13 1.87±0.01 5.76±0.03 7.63±0.03 4.64 0.68 Submetacentric 14 2.57±0.01 4.96±0.02 7.53±0.03 4.58 0.63 Submetacentric 15 2.46±0.01 4.68±0.02 7.14±0.03 4.34 0.73 Subtelocentric 16 1.91±0.01 4.92±0.02 6.83±0.03 4.16 0.75 Subtelocentric 17 1.89±0.01 4.29±0.02 6.18±0.03 3.76 0.70 Submetacentric 18 2.53±0.01 3.53±0.02 6.07±0.03 3.69 0.52 Metacentric 19 2.34±0.01 3.09±0.01 5.43±0.02 3.30 0.69 Submetacentric 20 1.53±0.01 3.01±0.01 4.53±0.02 2.76 0.69 Submetacentric 21 0.83±0.00 2.80±0.01 3.63±0.02 2.21 0.61 Submetacentric 10 Piyaporn Saensouk, Surapon Saensouk, Rattanavalee Senavongse 12m + 6sm + 8st with two visible satellite chromosomes including 13 pairs, which comprised six pairs of meta- centric chromosome, three pairs of submetacentric chro- mosomes and four pairs of subtelocentric chromosomes with two visible satellite chromosomes. The short arm chromosome length ranged from 1.41±0.01 to 4.95±0.02 μm, the long arm chromosome length ranged from 3.75±0.02 to 5.51±0.03 μm, the total arm chromosome length ranged from 5.16±0.03 to 10.46±0.05 μm. Relative lengths were 5.45–11.05 %. Centromeric indexes were 0.55 0.74 (Table 4; Figure 2(C)). This study of the chro- mosome number and karyotype of this endemic species to Thailand was never previously reported. The somatic chromosome number of Ar. maxwellii, Vulnerable species (VU) and a not common species from Thailand, is reported here to be 2n = 24 with NF = 48 (Figure 1(D)). The karyotype formula was asymmetri- cal karyotype due to 22m + 2sm with two visible satel- lite chromosomes including 12 pairs, which comprised 11 pairs of metacentric chromosomes and one pair of submetacentric chromosomes. The short arm chromo- some length ranged from 1.28±0.01 to 2.65±0.01 μm, the long arm chromosome length ranged from 1.30±0.01 to 3.00±0.02 μm, the total arm chromosome length ranged from 2.58±0.02 to 5.65±0.04 μm. Relative lengths were 5.94–13.00 %. Centromeric indexes were 0.50–0.63 Table 4. Mean length of short arm chromosome (Ls), long arm chromosome (Ll), total arm chromosome (LT), relative length (RL), centro- meric index (CI) and standard deviation (SD) of RL, CI from 20 metaphases of Am. serrulatus (2n=26). Chromosome pair Ls±SD (µm) Ll±SD (µm) LT±SD (µm) RL (%) CI Chromosome type *1 4.95±0.02 5.51±0.03 10.46±0.05 11.05 0.58 Metacentric 2 4.06±0.02 5.29±0.03 9.35±0.04 9.88 0.59 Metacentric 3 3.26±0.01 5.55±0.03 8.81±0.04 9.31 0.57 Metacentric 4 3.31±0.01 4.65±0.03 7.96±0.04 8.41 0.56 Metacentric 5 2.02±0.01 5.91±0.03 7.94±0.04 8.39 0.72 Subtelocentric 6 3.19±0.01 4.49±0.03 7.67±0.04 8.11 0.55 Metacentric 7 2.21±0.01 5.03±0.03 7.23±0.04 7.64 0.69 Submetacentric 8 1.71±0.01 5.09±0.03 6.80±0.04 7.18 0.74 Subtelocentric 9 1.88±0.01 4.38±0.02 6.26±0.03 6.61 0.71 Subtelocentric 10 2.54±0.01 3.54±0.02 6.09±0.03 6.43 0.59 Metacentric 11 1.62±0.01 3.85±0.02 5.48±0.03 5.79 0.68 Submetacentric 12 1.54±0.01 3.91±0.02 5.45±0.03 5.76 0.68 Submetacentric 13 1.41±0.01 3.75±0.02 5.16±0.03 5.45 0.72 Subtelocentric *=satellite chromosome. Table 5. Mean length of short arm chromosome (Ls), long arm chromosome (Ll), total arm chromosome (LT), relative length (RL), centro- meric index (CI) and standard deviation (SD) of RL, CI from 20 metaphases of Ar. maxwellii (2n=24). Chromosome pair Ls±SD (µm) Ll±SD (µm) LT±SD (µm) RL (%) CI Chromosome type 1 2.65±0.01 3.00±0.02 5.65±0.04 13.00 0.52 Metacentric 2 2.25±0.01 2.44±0.02 4.69±0.03 10.80 0.52 Metacentric 3 1.91±0.01 2.36±0.02 4.27±0.03 9.83 0.58 Metacentric 4 1.87±0.01 2.37±0.02 4.25±0.03 9.78 0.50 Metacentric 5 1.75±0.01 2.05±0.02 3.80±0.03 8.75 0.57 Metacentric *6 1.71±0.01 2.03±0.02 3.74±0.03 8.61 0.51 Metacentric 7 1.50±0.01 1.71±0.02 3.21±0.03 7.39 0.59 Metacentric 8 1.47±0.01 1.56±0.02 3.04±0.03 6.99 0.51 Metacentric 9 1.20±0.01 1.66±0.02 2.86±0.03 6.58 0.63 Submetacentric 10 1.23±0.01 1.46±0.01 2.69±0.03 6.18 0.53 Metacentric 11 1.33±0.01 1.34±0.02 2.68±0.02 6.16 0.53 Metacentric 12 1.28±0.01 1.30±0.01 2.58±0.02 5.94 0.56 Metacentric *=satellite chromosome. 11Cytogenetic Studies of Six Species in Family Araceae from Thailand (Table 5; Figure 2(D)). The chromosome number and karyotype including the cytological characteristics of this species in this study is reported for the first time. The somatic chromosome number of Ha. bentha- miana was recognized to be 2n = 26 and NF = 52 (Fig- ure 1(E)). The karyotype formula was asymmetrical karyotype due to 26m with one visible satellite chro- mosomes including 13 pairs, which comprised 13 pairs of metacentric chromosomes. The short arm chromo- some length ranged from 1.24±0.01 to 2.20±0.01 μm, the Table 6. Mean length of short arm chromosome (Ls), long arm chromosome (Ll), total arm chromosome (LT), relative length (RL), centro- meric index (CI) and standard deviation (SD) of RL, CI from 20 metaphases of Ha. benthamiana (2n=26). Chromosome pair Ls±SD (µm) Ll±SD (µm) LT±SD (µm) RL (%) CI Chromosome type 1 2.20±0.01 2.32±0.02 4.52±0.03 9.74 0.51 Metacentric 2 2.11±0.01 2.22±0.02 4.33±0.03 9.34 0.53 Metacentric 3 1.99±0.01 2.21±0.02 4.20±0.03 9.06 0.54 Metacentric 4 1.97±0.01 2.07±0.02 4.03±0.03 8.70 0.58 Metacentric 5 1.73±0.01 1.96±0.02 3.69±0.03 7.96 0.58 Metacentric 6 1.66±0.01 1.88±0.02 3.53±0.03 7.62 0.54 Metacentric 7 1.59±0.01 1.88±0.02 3.47±0.03 7.48 0.54 Metacentric 8 1.67±0.01 1.80±0.02 3.47±0.03 7.48 0.55 Metacentric *9 1.52±0.01 1.71±0.02 3.23±0.03 6.96 0.55 Metacentric 10 1.46±0.01 1.75±0.02 3.21±0.03 6.93 0.51 Metacentric 11 1.48±0.01 1.71±0.02 3.19±0.03 6.87 0.54 Metacentric 12 1.28±0.01 1.48±0.02 2.76±0.02 5.95 0.55 Metacentric 13 1.24±0.01 1.49±0.02 2.73±0.02 5.89 0.55 Metacentric *=satellite chromosome. Table 7. Mean length of short arm chromosome (Ls), long arm chromosome (Ll), total arm chromosome (LT), relative length (RL), centro- meric index (CI) and standard deviation (SD) of RL, CI from 20 metaphases of Ho. griffithii (2n=40). Chromosome pair Ls±SD (µm) Ll±SD (µm) LT±SD (µm) RL (%) CI Chromosome type 1 1.98±0.01 2.01±0.02 3.99±0.03 9.05 0.55 Metacentric 2 1.46±0.01 1.68±0.02 3.14±0.03 7.13 0.58 Metacentric *3 1.26±0.01 1.68±0.02 2.93±0.03 6.65 0.51 Metacentric 4 0.60±0.01 1.96±0.02 2.56±0.03 5.81 0.63 Submetacentric 5 0.77±0.01 1.87±0.02 2.64±0.03 5.98 0.62 Submetacentric 6 0.92±0.01 1.46±0.02 2.38±0.03 5.39 0.61 Submetacentric 7 0.95±0.01 1.28±0.02 2.23±0.03 5.06 0.59 Metacentric 8 0.73±0.01 1.45±0.02 2.18±0.03 4.94 0.62 Submetacentric 9 0.77±0.01 1.39±0.02 2.16±0.02 4.91 0.59 Metacentric 10 0.93±0.01 1.20±0.01 2.13±0.02 4.82 0.59 Metacentric 11 0.81±0.01 1.25±0.02 2.06±0.02 4.66 0.55 Metacentric 12 0.82±0.01 1.23±0.01 2.05±0.02 4.65 0.56 Metacentric 13 0.73±0.01 1.33±0.02 2.05±0.02 4.65 0.68 Submetacentric 14 0.91±0.01 1.11±0.01 2.02±0.02 4.58 0.53 Metacentric 15 0.88±0.01 1.02±0.01 1.89±0.02 4.29 0.58 Metacentric 16 0.90±0.01 1.00±0.01 1.89±0.02 4.29 0.53 Metacentric 17 0.77±0.01 1.03±0.01 1.80±0.02 4.08 0.55 Metacentric 18 0.73±0.01 1.03±0.01 1.76±0.02 3.99 0.55 Metacentric 19 0.69±0.01 0.93±0.01 1.62±0.02 3.67 0.58 Metacentric 20 0.21±0.00 0.41±0.01 0.62±0.01 1.40 0.59 Metacentric *=satellite chromosome. 12 Piyaporn Saensouk, Surapon Saensouk, Rattanavalee Senavongse long arm chromosome length ranged from 1.48±0.02 to 2.32±0.02 μm, the total arm chromosome length ranged from 2.73±0.02 to 4.52±0.03 μm. Relative lengths were 5.89–9.74 %. Centromeric indexes were 0.51–0.58 (Table 6; Figure 2(E)). The somatic chromosome number of Ha. benthamiana in this study is consistent with Larsen (1969) reported 2n = 26. The karyotype studies of this species were reported for the first time. The somatic chromosome number of Ho. griffithii was found to be 2n (diploid) = 40 with NF = 80 (Figure 1(F)). The karyotype formula was asymmetrical karyo- type due to 30m + 10sm with two satellite chromosomes including 20 pairs, which comprised 15 pairs of meta- centric chromosomes and five pairs of submetacentric chromosomes (Table 7; Figure 2(F)). The short arm chromosome length ranged from 0.21±0.00 to 1.98±0.01 μm, the long arm chromosome length ranged from 0.41±0.01 to 2.01±0.02 μm, the total arm chromosome length ranged from 0.62±0.01 to 3.99±0.03 μm. Relative lengths were 1.40–9.05 %. Cen- tromeric indexes were 0.51–0.68 (Table 7; Figure 2(F)). The somatic chromosome number of Ho. griffithii is consistent with Okada (1982) and Okada (2000). In addition, the karyotype of this study was investigated for the first time. While, Darlington and Wylie (1955) reported the chromosome numbers of plants in the family Araceae between 2n = 24–140 because it is able to cross-pollinate, and when there are hybrids, the doubling of the chromo- some number and resulting plant species have allopoly- ploidy, and it was found that the polyploidy was related to the evolution of this family (Larsen 1969) or environ- mental factors, such as weather, humidity, light, soil or altitude above sea level in each of the areas. From the literature, it was found that this family has a wide range of chromosome numbers between 2n = 24–140. However, this study found that all five genera with six species had chromosome numbers 2n = 24–42, including three species with symmetry and three species with asymmetry. 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