Species delimitation and phylogenetic relationships in a genus of African weakly-electric fishes (Osteoglossiformes, Mormyridae, Campylomormyrus).

Lamanna F; Kirschbaum F; Ernst ARR; Feulner PGD; Mamonekene V; Paul C; Tiedemann R

doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.04.035

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Species delimitation and phylogenetic relationships in a genus of African weakly-electric fishes (Osteoglossiformes, Mormyridae, Campylomormyrus).

Lamanna F Unit of Evolutionary Biology/Systematic Zoology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany; Center for Molecular Biology ("ZMBH"), University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 282, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany(1).
Kirschbaum F Department of Crop and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Horticulture and Agriculture, Humboldt University, Philippstrasse 13, D-10115 Berlin, Germany.
Ernst ARR Unit of Evolutionary Biology/Systematic Zoology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany.
Feulner PGD Department of Fish Ecology and Evolution, Eawag, Seestrasse 79, 6047 Kastanienbaum, Switzerland.
Mamonekene V Institut de Développement Rural, Université Marien Ngouabi, B.P. 69 Brazzaville, People's Republic of Congo.
Paul C Unit of Evolutionary Biology/Systematic Zoology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany.
Tiedemann R Unit of Evolutionary Biology/Systematic Zoology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany. Electronic address: tiedeman@uni-potsdam.de.

2016-05-05

Published in:

Molecular phylogenetics and evolution. - 2016

English African weakly-electric fishes (Mormyridae) are able to communicate through species-specific electric signals; this feature might have favoured the evolutionary radiation observed in this family (over 200 species) by acting as an effective pre-zygotic isolation mechanism. In the present study we used mitochondrial (cytb) and nuclear (rps7, scn4aa) markers in order to reconstruct a species-phylogeny and identify species boundaries for the genus Campylomormyrus, by applying inference methods based on the multispecies coalescent model. Additionally, we employed 16 microsatellite markers, landmark-based morphometric measurements, and electro-physiological analyses as independent lines of evidence to the results obtained from the sequence data. The results show that groups that are morphologically different are also significantly divergent at the genetic level, whereas morphologically similar groups, displaying dissimilar electric signals, do not show enough genetic diversity to be considered separate species. Furthermore, the data confirm the presence of a yet undescribed species within the genus Campylomormyrus.

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