Abstract
The percomorph fish family Lutjanidae (snappers and fusiliers) includes about 135 reef-dwelling species, mainly confined to tropical and subtropical marine waters. The great majority of snappers are active predators feeding on fishes or crustaceans, even though some species, including the fusiliers (Caesioninae), have evolved zooplanktivory. Lutjanids show a great diversity of habitat preferences, based on depth segregation and distribution across reef and associated habitats (e.g., mangroves, seagrass beds, estuaries). In spite of their great ecological and economic importance little is known about the tempo of evolution in this group. The present study provides the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny to date for lutjanids, including 70% of extant species and 19 of the 21 currently described genera. We time-calibrated our molecular tree using the oldest described lutjanid fossils, and show how this group most likely originated during the Late Cretaceous or Early Paleocene. Lutjanids experienced a significant radiation during the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene, in contrast to a pattern of Late Oligocene/Miocene radiation observed in many other reef-associated groups. The time-tree allows us to investigate the tempo of diversification, and our results suggest a variation in the rate of speciation during the evolution of the major clade formed by “lutjanins and caesionins”. Variation in diet and life history strategies could explain this clade-specific dynamic, although future phylogenetic comparative studies combining additional ecological and morphological data are needed to test this hypothesis.
Highlights
Snappers and fusiliers (Lutjanidae) include about 135 extant species of medium-sized to large fishes (Froese & Pauly 2016; Eschmeyer et al 2016)
The lineage to branch off includes Lutjanus adetii (Castelnau, 1873) and Lutjanus sebae (Cuvier, 1816), sister to Pinjanlo pinjalo (Bleeker, 1850), several additional species of Lutjanus [L. timoriensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824), L. sanguineus (Cuvier, 1828), L. erythropterus Bloch, 1790 and L. malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)] and Pinjalo lewisi Randall, Allen & Anderson, 1987
We provide the first densely-sampled molecular phylogeny of Lutjanidae
Summary
Snappers and fusiliers (Lutjanidae) include about 135 extant species of medium-sized to large fishes (Froese & Pauly 2016; Eschmeyer et al 2016). Lutjanidae represents a successful radiation of reefand mangrove-associated percomorphs in marine and brackish coastal waters across the tropical and subtropical oceans. Many species of snappers are the target of commercial fisheries in tropical areas, and they are considered one of the most important components of artisanal fisheries across many tropical countries (Allen 1985).
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