Abstract
The family Pomacentridae is a species-rich group of primarily marine fishes. The phylogenetic relationships of the damselfishes are examined herein using sequence data from five mitochondrial (12S, 16S, ATP synthase subunits 8/6, cytochrome b, and cytochrome c oxidase I) and three nuclear (histone H3, recombination activating gene 1 exon 3, and Tmo-4C4) loci. A combined data matrix of 6,865 base pairs was compiled for 462 taxa, representing 322 damselfish species, and used to reconstruct the phylogeny of pomacentrids via maximum likelihood. The resulting topology supports the monophyly of the family and some groups within it, corroborating some conclusions drawn by recent studies but contradicting others. We find that the family is composed of four major lineages, recognized herein as the subfamilies Chrominae, Glyphisodontinae, Microspathodontinae, and Pomacentrinae. The subfamily Microspathodontinae is sister to a clade of the other three subfamilies, and the subfamily Glyphisodontinae is sister to a clade of Chrominae and Pomacentrinae. The monotypic subfamily Lepidozyginae is recovered within Microspathodontinae and placed in the synonymy of Microspathodontinae. Species of Plectroglyphidodon and Stegastes are reassigned to maintain the monophyly of both genera. In Chrominae, the generic limits of Azurina and Chromis are revised to reflect monophyletic groups. The genus-group name Pycnochromis is resurrected to accommodate a group of former Chromis sister to Dascyllus. In Pomacentrinae, the genus Premnas is recovered within Amphiprion and placed in the synonymy of Amphiprion. The genus Chrysiptera is broadly polyphyletic within Pomacentrinae. The genus Amblypomacentrus is revised to accommodate some species formerly classified as Chrysiptera.
Highlights
D AMSELFISHES (Teleostei: Pomacentridae) are a diverse and widespread family of primarily marine fishes found throughout the tropical oceans where they form a major component of reef communities (Hiatt and Strasburg, 1960; Randall, 1963; Brock et al, 1979; Allen and Werner, 2002; Bellwood and Wainwright, 2002)
In an effort to include as many damselfish species as possible, taxon sampling was supplemented by sequences published in the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD) and GenBank databases, primarily from large-scale damselfish phylogenies (Quenouille et al, 2004; Cooper et al, 2009; Frederich et al, 2013), with additional data drawn from relevant publications (e.g., Santini and Polacco, 2006; Litsios et al, 2014)
Alignment produced no indels in the cyt b, c oxidase I (COI), and H3 sequences
Summary
D AMSELFISHES (Teleostei: Pomacentridae) are a diverse and widespread family of primarily marine fishes found throughout the tropical oceans where they form a major component of reef communities (Hiatt and Strasburg, 1960; Randall, 1963; Brock et al, 1979; Allen and Werner, 2002; Bellwood and Wainwright, 2002). The planktonic stage of their life history varies greatly in duration, depending on the species (Thresher et al, 1989; Wellington and Victor, 1989) This pelagic step is completely absent in the species of Acanthochromis and Altrichthys, which makes them unique among pomacentrids (Robertson, 1973; Allen, 1999a; Bernardi et al, 2017a). Because of that life history, they are the only damselfishes to exhibit brooding behavior, where the parents care for and defend the young through the recruitment stage (Robertson, 1973; Allen, 1975a, 1999a; Nakazono, 1993; Kavanagh, 1998, 2000; Bernardi, 2011) This may have given rise to inter- and intraspecific brood parasitism in species of Altrichthys (Tariel et al, 2019). The correct formation for a family-group name based on Chromis should be Chrominae (Steyskal, 1980). Gill (1859) established the subfamily Amphiprioninae for the anemonefishes (Table 1)
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