Phylogenetic relationships of coral-associated gobies (Teleostei, Gobiidae) from the Red Sea based on mitochondrial DNA
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Phylogenetic relationships of coral-associated gobies (Teleostei, Gobiidae) from the Red Sea based on mitochondrial DNA data Jürgen Herler · Stephan Koblmüller · Christian Sturmbauer
Received: 24 May 2008 / Accepted: 22 December 2008 / Published online: 25 January 2009 © Springer-Verlag 2009
Abstract Bryaninops, Gobiodon, Paragobiodon and Pleurosicya are the most abundant genera of coral-associated gobies. These genera are adapted to live among coral, while other small reef gobies (e.g., the genus Eviota) show no obligate association with this living substrate. Thirteen coral-associated species and two Eviota species were sampled from diVerent regions of the Red Sea, along with four populations/species of Gobiodon from the Indian and western PaciWc Oceans. A molecular phylogenetic analysis was performed using partial sequences of 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA and cytochrome b mitochondrial genes, 1,199 base pairs in total. Several clades were consistently resolved in neighbor joining-, maximum parsimony-, maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses. While each of the four genera Gobiodon, Paragobiodon, Bryaninops and Pleurosicya proved to be monophyletic, their relative position in the phylogeny did not support an emergence of coral-associated gobiids as a monophyletic assemblage. Instead, two separate monophyletic sub-groups were discovered, the Wrst comprising
Communicated by T. Reusch. J. Herler (&) Department of Theoretical Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria e-mail: [email protected] S. Koblmüller Department of Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC), Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden C. Sturmbauer Department of Zoology, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Universitätsplatz 2, 8010 Graz, Austria
Gobiodon and Paragobiodon, and the second Bryaninops and Pleurosicya. Our molecular phylogenetic examinations also revealed one unassigned species of Gobiodon from the Maldives as a distinct species and conWrmed three putative and yet unassigned species from the Red Sea. Moreover, the uniformly black colored species of Gobiodon are not monophyletic but have evolved independently within two distinct species groups. Genetic distances were large in particular within Pleurosicya and Eviota. Estimated divergence times suggest that coral-associated gobies have diversiWed in parallel to their preferred host corals. In particular, divergence times of Gobiodon species closely match those estimated for their typical host coral genus Acropora.
Introduction Coral reef Wshes are known for their species richness and potential as a model for adaptive radiation among marine Wshes (Rocha and Bowen 2008). They show ecological diversiWcation, especially among the small and habitatspecialized groups (Rüber et al. 2003). In particular, coralassociated Wshes are of interest in terms of radiation by niche diversiWcation and adaptation. The family of Gobiidae comprises the greatest number of genera and species of habitat-specialized
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