The karyotype of the middle-African hedgehog Atelerix albiventris Wagner, 1841 and its cytotaxonomical relationships to other Erinaceinae (Insectivora: Erinaceidae).

Like other hedgehog species investigated hitherto, also the Middle African species Atelerix albiventris has a diploid number of 48 chromosomes. However, Aethechinus and Atelerix display quite distinct cytogenetic characteristics compared to the hedgehog genera Erinaceus, Hemiechinus and Paraechinus. Individual chromosome structures and reactivities permit the recognition of similarities to the Algerian hedgehog Aethechinus algirus and indicate their close relationship. Nevertheless, the proposal by Corbet (1988) to merge the two taxa into one genus, which is contrary to Robbins and Setzer (1985) remains to be clarified by further investigations.