Intrapopulational variation in color pattern of Trichomycterus davisi (Haseman, 1911) (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae) corroborated by morphometrics and molecular analysis

Abstract

Color patterns of the body are commonly used to distinguish and identify species of Trichomycterus. Therefore, variation in color pattern in a population can cause doubt concerning species identification. With the purpose to test the hypothesis of high variation in color pattern of Trichomycterus davisi (Haseman, 1911), 118 specimens were collected in a stream of a private Ecological Park in southern Brazil, of which 88 were used in the morphological analysis and 30 for DNA barcoding analysis. Three phenotypic classes were determined analyzing the distribution, size and shape of dark brown spots and blotches. The results of morphometric analysis indicate a tendency of association of those pigmentation patterns with the standard length, evidencing ontogenetic variation of color pattern in the species. The results of K2P intraspecific genetic distance (<0.72%), haplotypes network and Bayesian phylogenetic tree corroborate the existence of only one species with a high variable color pattern.