Q. Do the phylogenetically proximal species have cells with proximal chromosome counts?
The number of chromosomes typical of each species is proximal for phylogenetically proximal species for instance, gorilla, orangutan, chimpanzee and human). But it is not unfeasible that evolutionary distant species, like oat and rat, stands similar karyotypes and the same total number of chromosomes.
Even presenting equivalent number of chromosomes evolutionary distant species have radically different characteristics since the quantity and the sequence of nucleotides that compose their respective the DNA molecules are quite different.