Distal deletion of chromosome 1q has been reported in nearly 30 patients, all being associated with a deletion ranging from the 1q42 or q43 band to 1qter region. Here, we describe a girl with 1q terminal deletion resulting from an unbalanced de novo translocation t(1;D or G)(q44;p11), as revealed by the presence of a satellited feature and an NOR-stained region at the tip of 1q. We suggest that most of the phenotypic abnormalities seen in patients with 1q distal deletion are attributable to the monosomy for band 1q44.