Phylogenetic relationships within the speciose family Characidae (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Characiformes) based on multilocus analysis and extensive ingroup sampling

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>With nearly 1,100 species, the fish family Characidae represents more than half of the species of Characiformes, and is a key component of Neotropical freshwater ecosystems. The composition, phylogeny, and classification of Characidae is currently uncertain, despite significant efforts based on analysis of morphological and molecular data. No consensus about the monophyly of this group or its position within the order Characiformes has been reached, challenged by the fact that many key studies to date have non-overlapping taxonomic representation and focus only on subsets of this diversity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the present study we propose a new definition of the family Characidae and a hypothesis of relationships for the Characiformes based on phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences of two mitochondrial and three nuclear genes (4,680 base pairs). The sequences were obtained from 211 samples representing 166 genera distributed among all 18 recognized families in the order Characiformes, all 14 recognized subfamilies in the Characidae, plus 56 of the genera so far considered <it>incertae sedis </it>in the Characidae. The phylogeny obtained is robust, with most lineages significantly supported by posterior probabilities in Bayesian analysis, and high bootstrap values from maximum likelihood and parsimony analyses.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A monophyletic assemblage strongly supported in all our phylogenetic analysis is herein defined as the Characidae and includes the characiform species lacking a supraorbital bone and with a derived position of the emergence of the hyoid artery from the anterior ceratohyal. To recognize this and several other monophyletic groups within characiforms we propose changes in the limits of several families to facilitate future studies in the Characiformes and particularly the Characidae. This work presents a new phylogenetic framework for a speciose and morphologically diverse group of freshwater fishes of significant ecological and evolutionary importance across the Neotropics and portions of Africa.</p

Taxonomy based on science is necessary for global conservation

Peer reviewe

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

FIGURE 3 in A new species of Hemigrammus Gill 1858 (Characiformes: Characidae) from the upper Rio Negro, Amazon basin, Brazil

FIGURE 3. Hemigrammus kuroobi, paratype, LBP 7074, 46.3 mm SL, showing light area between humeral blotch and midlateral stripe (arrow).Published as part of Reia, Lais & Benine, Ricardo C., 2019, A new species of Hemigrammus Gill 1858 (Characiformes: Characidae) from the upper Rio Negro, Amazon basin, Brazil, pp. 407-415 in Zootaxa 4555 (3) on page 410, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4555.3.9, http://zenodo.org/record/262454

A new species of Hemigrammus Gill 1858 (Characiformes: Characidae) from the upper Rio Negro, Amazon basin, Brazil

Reia, Lais, Benine, Ricardo C. (2019): A new species of Hemigrammus Gill 1858 (Characiformes: Characidae) from the upper Rio Negro, Amazon basin, Brazil. Zootaxa 4555 (3): 407-415, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4555.3.

Moenkhausia restricta, a new species from the upper Rio Negro, Amazon basin, northwestern Brazil (Characiformes: Characidae)

Soares, Nathália C., Benine, Ricardo C. (2019): Moenkhausia restricta, a new species from the upper Rio Negro, Amazon basin, northwestern Brazil (Characiformes: Characidae). Zootaxa 4700 (4): 487-493, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4700.4.

A new species of Moenkhausia (Characiformes, Characidae) from the Içá River, Amazon Basin, northern Brazil

A new species of the genus Moenkhausia is described from the Içá River, Amazon Basin. Moenkhausia britskii sp. n. is most similar to M. grandisquamis and M. xinguensis. From these two species it is readily distinguished by the pigmentation pattern of the humeral spot. Moenkhausia britskii further differs from M. xinguensis by the pattern of radii on the scales, which curve upward and downward (vs. scales with straight radii). Discussions on the putative relationship of the new species with M. grandisquamis and M. xinguensis, and on the peculiar upward and downward arched scale radii are provided