Snakes have 74 chromosomes

1) "Thirty-four of the thirty-five species of snakes examined by us have a diploid number of 36 with the karyotypes of most species divisible into 16 macrochromosomes and 20 microchromosomes. One species, Elaphe suboeularis, has a diploid number of 40 with 18 macro-sized and 22 microsized chromosomes." Source and further information: http://www.springerlink.com/content/f2616vv42k205g83/fulltext.pdf?page=1 2) "Snakes exhibit a narrow range of variations in their karyotypes by having a prepondance of species with 36 chromosomes (16 macrochromosomes an 20 microchromosomes)." Source and further information: http://www.jstor.org/pss/3891442 3) "C.punctata variety A This form was first realized by Dhar 1984, 1986 in a study of this species which spanned 3 years. A chromosome count of 34 was recorded and their geographical location was the Gauhati North Bank, Assam (India). A type of the same count from the river Yamuna, Delhi (India) was also noted by Nayyar (1966). C.punctata variety B This varient has 32 chromosomes. This seems to have a wider dispersion, although many years of further research is needed to give a more comprehensive pattern of geographical distribution. It is known from Gauhati South Bank, Silchar, Shillong ( Dhar 1984, 1986 )and Kalyani, West Bengal ( Manna & Prashad 1974)." Source and further information: http://www.fishace.com.au/snake/261puncta.html 4) Not a snake, but interesting: "Ophioglossales (lit. 'snake-tongue-plant') are a small group of pteridophyte plants. Traditionally they are included in the division Pteridophyta, the ferns, originally as a family and later as the order Ophioglossales." "The genus Ophioglossum has the highest chromosome counts of any known plant. The record holder is Ophioglossum reticulatum, with a chromosome count reaching 1260." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophioglossales "In many instances, endopolyploid nuclei contain tens of thousands of chromosomes (which cannot be exactly counted)." Further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karyotype#Ploidy:_the_number_of_sets_in_a_karyotype There does not seem to be a relation between the number of chromosomes and the complexity of the organism.