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Annual Convention of the Palaeontological Society and Society for
Biological Systematics, Oldenburg, Germany
Molecular systematics and biogeography of the lionfishes
(Scorpaenidae: subfamily Pteroinae) based on mitochondrial
cytochrome b DNA sequences
Kochzius, Marc*; Söller, Rainer**; Khalaf, Maroof A.***; Aktani,
Unggul* and Blohm, Dietmar**
*Zentrum für
Marine Tropenökologie (ZMT), Bremen, Germany
**Biotechnologie
und Molekulare Genetik, FB2-UFT, Universität Bremen, Germany
***Marine
Science Station (MSS), Aqaba, Jordan
Lionfishes belong to the genera Pterois and Dendrochirus
of the scorpaenid subfamily Pteroinae. They are distributed in the tropical
Indo-Pacific and are usually associated with coral reefs. The phylogenetic
relationships of lionfishes are still unresolved and no systematic revision
was conducted to date. We constructed a phylogenetic tree of 5 Pterois
and 2 Dendrochirus species based on a 421 bp mtDNA cyt b sequence
to investigate the following relationships: (1) status of the sibling species
Pterois miles (Bennett, 1828) and
P. volitans (Linnaeus,
1758), and (2) status of the genus Dendrochirus Swainson 1839. Pterois
miles and P. volitans are considered as sibling species with
an allopatric distribution in the Indian Ocean including Red Sea as well
as Arabian/Persian Gulf and Western Pacific respectively. They only differ
slightly in some meristic characters and have also been treated as a single
species. Phylogenetic analysis of mtDNA cyt b sequences revealed a P.
miles/volitans clade. Genetic distance between P. miles and
P. volitans is in the same range as between other clearly distinct
species of Pterois. Therefore, cyt b sequence analysis supports
the distinctiveness of the two species. The phylogenetic analysis did not
reveal distinct Pterois and Dendrochirus clades and therefore
the genus Dendrochirus is not supported by DNA sequences. A review
of taxonomic literature showed an inadequate description of the genus,
criticised by several authors. Therefore, we suggest to suppress the genus
Dendrochirus Swainson 1839. |
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© Marc Kochzius |
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