Systematics and Biogeography of the Silverside Tribe Menidiini (Teleostomi: Atherinopsidae) Based on the Mitochondrial ND2 Gene
The silverside fish tribe Menidiini (Teleostei: Atherinopsidae) consists of four genera, Menidia, Labidesthes, Poblana, and Chirostoma, that are distributed along the Atlantic coast of North America, throughout the Gulf of México, insular United States, and the Mesa Central of México. It has been suggested that Chirostoma, Poblana, and Menidia should be recognized as a single genus under the nominal Menidia. To test this hypothesis, phylogenetic relationships within the tribe Menidiini were assessed using the mitochondrially encoded ND2 gene. Monophyly of the Menidiini tribe was supported. Results also failed to support monophyly for the genera Menidia and Chirostoma as currently recognized. A central Mexican clade, inclusive of Chirostoma and Poblana, was recovered as monophyletic and strongly supported. Relationships within the Mesa Central clade support a previously recognized “humboldtianum” clade and the paraphyly of Chirostoma with respect to Poblana.Abstract
The distribution of the four genera in silverside tribe Menidiini.
Higher order relationships in New World Silverside family Atherinopsidae redrawn from Dyer (1997).
Phylogeny of Menidiini silversides from a strict consensus of 60 equally parsimonious trees resulting following a heuristic search with 1,000 random stepwise additions and 100 trees saved at each iteration. Numbers above branches represent bootstrap values (1,000 pseudoreplicates) shown when ≥50.
Phylogeny resulting from the Bayesian analysis consisting of 10 million generations. Nodes supported by ≥95% posterior probabilities are indicated with an asterisk.
Cladogram of area relationships within the “Poblana” clade imposed on a map of the Mesa Central, Mèxico.
Contributor Notes
Associate Editor: D. Buth.
1 Southeastern Louisiana University, Department of Biological Sciences, Hammond, Louisiana 70402, e-mail: (KRP) Kyle.Piller@selu.edu. Send reprint requests to KRP.
2 Present address: University of Toronto, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Toronto, ON, Canada, M6H 2P4, e-mail: devin.bloom@utoronto.ca.
3 University of Wisconsin Zoological Museum, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.
4 Departamento de Ecología Funcional, Instituto de Ecología A.C., Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
5 Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoacán, México.