Little Divergence Among Mitochondrial Lineages of Prochilodus (Teleostei, Characiformes).

Bruno F Melo,Beatriz F Dorini,Claudio Oliveira,Fausto Foresti

doi:10.3389/fgene.2018.00107

Abstract

Evidence that migration prevents population structure among Neotropical characiform fishes has been reported recently but the effects upon species diversification remain unclear. Migratory species of Prochilodus have complex species boundaries and intrincate taxonomy representing a good model to address such questions. Here, we analyzed 147 specimens through barcode sequences covering all species of Prochilodus across a broad geographic area of South America. Species delimitation and population genetic methods revealed very little genetic divergence among mitochondrial lineages suggesting that extensive gene flow resulted likely from the highly migratory behavior, natural hybridization or recent radiation prevent accumulation of genetic disparity among lineages. Our results clearly delimit eight genetic lineages in which four of them contain a single species and four contain more than one morphologically problematic taxon including a trans-Andean species pair and species of the P. nigricans group. Information about biogeographic distribution of haplotypes presented here might contribute to further research on the population genetics and taxonomy of Prochilodus.

Highlights

Fishes of the characiform family Prochilodontidae are widely distributed across Neotropical freshwaters and represent important fishery resources in South America (Ribeiro and Petrere, 1990; Garcia et al, 2009)
There is no empirical study aimed to detect whether long-distance migrations affect genetic diversification at species level in Neotropical freshwater fishes
This study revealed a problematic species complex, the P. nigricans group that encompasses several specimens of P. rubrotaeniatus, P. brevis, and P. lacustris interspersed within the P. nigricans sensu lato

Summary

Introduction

Fishes of the characiform family Prochilodontidae are widely distributed across Neotropical freshwaters and represent important fishery resources in South America (Ribeiro and Petrere, 1990; Garcia et al, 2009). There is substantial evidence that migration of prochilodontids results in high levels of genetic variability and low levels of population structure (Sivasundar et al, 2001; Rueda et al, 2013; Ferreira et al, 2017; Machado et al, 2017). Prochilodontids represent a good model to address such questions because much research on population genetics and phylogeography have provided valuable intraspecific genetic information (Sivasundar et al, 2001; Turner et al, 2004; Hatanaka et al, 2006; Carvalho-Costa et al, 2008; Melo et al, 2013; Rueda et al, 2013; Ferreira et al, 2017; Machado et al, 2017; Sales et al, 2018).

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