A study of the chromosomes of Xiphophorus, Platypoecilus and of Xiphophorus‐Platypoecilus hybrids during spermatogenesis

During spermatogonial stages in Xiphophorus and Platypoecilus maculatus and Platypoecilus couchiana and in the hybrid, two distinct types of cells are observed, a large lightly staining primary spermatogonium and a smaller deeply staining secondary spermatogonium. Chromosomes of primary spermatogonia of Platypoecilus maculatus and Platypoecilus couchiana differ somewhat from those of Xiphophorus helleri and Xiphophorus jalapa, but are very similar to those of the hybrid at this stage. Chromosomes of Xiphophorus at this stage are long and thin, while those of Platypoecilus and of the hybrid are somewhat short and thick. Visible chromosome differences appear only during the primary spermatogonial stages. The haploid group of chromosomes, numbering twenty‐four in the hybrid, so resembles that of Xiphophorus and of these two species of Platypoecilus in both number and morphological characteristics during the primary spermatocyte division as to be practically indistinguishable from either. Persistent lagging of one large chromosome as it comes upon the equatorial plate during the primary spermatocyte division is very noticeable. Precocious division of this chromosome and the advancing of its two daughter components to the poles of the spindle in advance of other chromosomes indicates that this chromosome may be a sex chromosome. The fact that two daughter components are identical morphologically and that each secondary spermatocyte receives one of them suggests that the male in Xiphophorus and in Platypoecilus is homogametic.