Abstract
Hypostomus commersoni Valenciennes 1836, Hypostomus cordovae (Günther 1880) and Hypostomus laplatae (Eigenmann 1907) have been little studied since their original descriptions. This study shows a comprehensive review of these species from the Lower La Plata Basin, including their taxonomic history, distribution, color patterns, morphology, and ecological and molecular phylogenetic data. Morphological and phylogenetic analyses based on D-loop sequences suggested that H. commersoni can be separated into two subclades, or subgroups. Based on these results and on the non-overlapping distribution range of the two subclades, we conclude that they represent two distinct species, thereby revalidating H. spiniger. The results also suggest that H. paranensis should be considered as species inquirenda and H. cordovae as valid species. This integrated approach provides key information for assessing the conservation status and biogeographic aspects of the genus Hypostomus in the Lower La Plata Basin.
Highlights
Within the family Loricariidae, Hypostomus Lacépède 1803 is the most diverse genus, with more than 146 valid species (Eschmeyer et al.2017)
Mitochondrial D-loop sequences were obtained from several specimens recently collected in Argentina and Brazil, covering a wide distribution e20180131 3 | 25
Based on the morphological and molecular results, specimens previously identified as H. commersoni can be clearly separated into two species: Hypostomus commersoni inhabiting the Paraná, Paraguay, and Río de La Plata and a second species inhabiting the Uruguay River and Dos Patos Lagoon system which is considered here as H. spiniger described by Hensel (1870)
Summary
Within the family Loricariidae, Hypostomus Lacépède 1803 is the most diverse genus, with more than 146 valid species More than 20 species of Hypostomus are recorded in the Lower La Plata Basin (Koerber and Weber 2014, Litz and Koerber 2014, Mirande and Koerber 2015), but this is likely to be underestimated. This gap in basic biological data makes obtaining thorough knowledge of the evolutionary and biogeographical events shaping this group of catfish a challenge. The present study contributes to a more complete assessment of species diversity and expands available biological data on Hypostomus species inhabiting the Lower La Plata Basin. An integrated approach, based on taxonomic history, geographic distribution, morphology, morphometrics, live color pattern, and ecological and molecular phylogenetic data of the type-series, together with newly collected topotypes of these species, were used to re-evaluate their taxonomy
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