Event Abstract Back to Event Phylogenetic placement of fossil gobies: An integrative approach Christoph Gierl1, Martin Dohrmann1 and Bettina Reichenbacher1* 1 Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Palaeontology & Geobiology , Germany Gobioidei (gobies) comprise one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates, encompassing more than 2200 species in 320 genera, which can be found in freshwater, brackish, and marine habitats. Their high adaptiveness is indicated in surprising ways, e.g. guardian gobies sharing shelter with a shrimp, or mudskippers with a markedly amphibious lifestyle. Compared to the gobies’ modern diversity, their fossil record is rather sparse, currently amounting to approximately 70 otolith-based species and around 30 skeleton-based species. The systematic assignment of these fossils is often problematic, because most of them preserve few of the characters that define extant genera and even families, and no phylogenetic framework incorporating morphological data has yet been developed. Here we address this issue in an effort to more accurately assign fossils and better understand the evolutionary history of the gobioids. We have assembled a morphological character matrix comprising all currently recognized recent gobioid families, each represented by at least two species, and including eight fossil species from the Oligocene and early Miocene. We analyzed this matrix in combination with published molecular sequence data using a Bayesian approach. In the inferred total-evidence phylogeny, all extant families were recovered as monophyletic. Most of the fossil taxa were placed in the tree in accordance with their tentative assignments in previous studies based on comparative morphology alone. Our results support resurrection of the Oligocene family †Pirskeniidae and indicate that †Eleogobius and †Paralates are also best classified as separate extinct families. The integrative approach established here will be an invaluable tool for future interpretations of gobioid fossils. Keywords: Gobioidei, fossils, morphology, total-evidence phylogeny, Oligocene - Miocene Conference: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2 Sep - 6 Sep, 2019. Presentation Type: Oral Topic: MORPHOLOGY, ONTOGENY AND PALAEONTOLOGY Citation: Gierl C, Dohrmann M and Reichenbacher B (2019). Phylogenetic placement of fossil gobies: An integrative approach. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XVI European Congress of Ichthyology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.07.00078 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 31 May 2019; Published Online: 14 Aug 2019. * Correspondence: Mx. Bettina Reichenbacher, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Palaeontology & Geobiology, Munich, Bavaria, 80802, Germany, b.reichenbacher@lrz.uni-muenchen.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Christoph Gierl Martin Dohrmann Bettina Reichenbacher Google Christoph Gierl Martin Dohrmann Bettina Reichenbacher Google Scholar Christoph Gierl Martin Dohrmann Bettina Reichenbacher PubMed Christoph Gierl Martin Dohrmann Bettina Reichenbacher Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.