Abstract
We compared specimens of Tripterygion tripteronotus from 52 localities of the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent waters, using four gene sequences (12S rRNA, tRNA-valine, 16S rRNA and COI) and morphological characters. Two well-differentiated clades with a mean genetic divergence of 6.89±0.73% were found with molecular data, indicating the existence of two different species. These two species have disjunctive geographic distribution areas without any molecular hybrid populations. Subtle but diagnostic morphological differences were also present between the two species. T. tripteronotus is restricted to the northern Mediterranean basin, from the NE coast of Spain to Greece and Turkey, including the islands of Malta and Cyprus. T. tartessicum n. sp. is geographically distributed along the southern coast of Spain, from Cape of La Nao to the Gulf of Cadiz, the Balearic Islands and northern Africa, from Morocco to Tunisia. According to molecular data, these two species could have diverged during the Pliocene glaciations 2.7-3.6 Mya.
Highlights
Molecular data provide a complementary approach to discriminate species separated by subtle morphological characters (Knowlton, 1993; Avise, 1994; Held and Wagele, 2005)
Specimens of the two species of Tripterygion were collected at different localities of the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Cadiz; specimens from the Staatliches Museum fuer Naturkunde (Stuttgart, SMNS) were used, with the result that the individuals came from a total of 52 localities (Fig. 1)
Tripterygion tripteronotus was described by Risso (1810) as Blennius tripteronotus, from specimens collected in Nice (France; FR2)
Summary
Molecular data provide a complementary approach to discriminate species separated by subtle morphological characters (Knowlton, 1993; Avise, 1994; Held and Wagele, 2005). Three species have been described: T. tripteronotus, Risso, 1810, and T. melanurus, Guichenot, 1845, are endemic to the Mediterranean, and T. delaisi Cadenat and Blache, 1971, is found in both areas (Wirtz, 1980). The species was named as T. nasus (Risso, 1826) from material collected in Nice (France; FR2), T. melaenocephalus (Cocco, 1829) from specimens collected in Messina (Italy; IT2), and Tripterygium nikolskii (Maksimov, 1909) from the Crimea (Ukraine, Black Sea). These names were considered as junior synonyms of T. tripteronotus (see Hureau and Monod, 1973; Zander, 1986).
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