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Dissection and Flat-mounting of the Threespine Stickleback Branchial Skeleton
Published on: May 7, 2016
Phylogenetic inference in Odontesthes and Atherina (Teleostei: Atheriniformes) with insights into ecological
Sandra Heras1, María Inés Roldán
1Laboratori d'Ictiologia Genètica, Departament de Biologia, Universitat de Girona. Campus Montilivi, Girona, Spain.
Abstract:
This contribution provides an insight into Atheriniformes systematics based on four mitochondrial regions: 12S rRNA, cytb, COI and control region (2794bp in total). In the Atherinopsoidei (New World silversides), comparisons among five species of Odontesthes, O. argentinensis, O. bonariensis, O. smitti, O. hatcheri and O. incisa revealed a putative marine-freshwater pairing pattern of Odontesthes species, possibly driven by sea level fluctuations of South American waters. This study represents the first data on molecular phylogeny of Odontesthes species that can be of usefulness to biodiversity conservation policies. In the Atherinoidei (Old World silversides), Atherina boyeri was corroborated as a species complex constituted by a marine form, a marine with dark spots form and a brackish form. Concretely, Odontesthes and Atherina may represent geographically replicated models to study genetic adaptation and speciation of marine species to brackish and freshwater habitats. In addition, phylogenetic analyses supported Odontesthes and Atherina as monophyletic taxa and their separation into two differentiated suborders Atherinopsoidei and Atherinoidei, respectively.
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