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Ludwig, A., J. Bohlen, C. Wolter & C. Pitra


Phylogenetic relationships and historical biogeography of spined loaches (Cobitidae, Cobitis and Sabanejewia) as indicated by variability of mitochondrial DNA


Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 131 (3): 381-392


Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 131 (3): 381-392 (2001)

Phylogenetic relationships and historical biogeography of spined loaches (Cobitidae, Cobitis and Sabanejewia) as indicated by variability of mitochondrial DNA

  1. Ludwig, J. Bohlen, C. Wolter & C. Pitra

 

Abstract

Specimens of following taxa: Sabanejewia balcanica Karaman, 1922; Cobitis paludica deBuen, 1930; C. bilineata Canestrini, 1866; C. fahireae Erkakan et al., 1998; C. elazigensis Coad and Sarieyyüpoglu, 1988; C. elongata Heckel and Kner, 1858; two different sub-populations of C. taenia Linnaeus, 1758 and four different sub-populations of C. turcica Hanko, 1925, of wide ranged localities of Euasia were used for sequence analyses of the 12S rRNA gene. Phylogenetic relationships among taxa were estimated using parsimony, neighbor-joining, and maximum likelihood algorithms. The calculation of the transition-transversion ratio indicated that the taxa analysed were rather distantly related. Our analyses using the genus Sabanejewia as an outgroup suggest that C. bilineata separated from the subgenus Cobitis sensu stricto and placed together with C. elongata as basal to all other species of the genus Cobitis. Support for the placement of C. paludica as basal to both the subgenera Bicanestrinia and Cobitis s. str. (without C. bilineata) is given by outcomes from three independent methods of phylogenetic reconstruction. A sister-taxa relationship for the subgenera Bicanestrinia and Cobitis s. str. without C. bilineata was consistently found. C. elazigensis was closely related to the population of C. turcica from Lake Beysehir, both formed a sister-group to the remaining populations of C. turcica, while C. fahireae was basal to C. taenia. A molecular clock was calculated based on sequence divergence values and paleogeographical data. This suggests that different historical colonisation routes must have been used by different clades of spined loaches.

 

Key words: 12S rRNA – genetic divergence – historical biogeography