Phylogenetic revision of whisker-cheeked suckermouth catfishes (Loricariidae: Lasiancistrus) from east of the Andes: five species where once there were two

Abstract

Abstract We integrated large sample sizes, morphometric and molecular data, and phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses to test the 17-year-old hypothesis that only two species of whisker-cheeked suckermouth catfishes (genus Lasiancistrus) occur in river drainages west of the Andes Mountains. Our results reject this hypothesis, demonstrating that, in addition to the previously recognized Lasiancistrus guacharote from Lake Maracaibo, a Lasiancistrus clade from west of the Sierra de Perijá contains at least four allopatric, genetically differentiated and morphologically distinct lineages. One of these lineages had no previous name associated with it and is described here as the new species Lasiancistrus wiwa. Phylogenetic relationships and geographical distributions of all five trans-Andean lineages are concordant with watershed boundaries and major mountain ranges that form these boundaries, with the following five freshwater basins or regions each containing a single species: Lake Maracaibo (L. guacharote), Rancheria River basin (L. wiwa), Upper and Middle Magdalena River and lower Cauca River basins (Lasiancistrus volcanensis), Upper Cauca River basin (Lasiancistrus caucanus) and Pacific Coastal watersheds between central Colombia and central Panama (Lasiancistrus mayoloi). Evolutionary relationships among these lineages suggest that Andean uplift-mediated vicariance contributed significantly to the cladogenesis and allopatric distributions of these fishes.