Phylogenomics of the African characiform families Alestidae, Citharinidae, Distichodontidae and Hepsetidae

• Grant number: 18/24040-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: June 01, 2019
• End date: November 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Claudio de Oliveira
• Grantee: Bruno Francelino de Melo
• Supervisor: Melanie L J Stiassny
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: American Museum of Natural History, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/11313-8 - Phylogeny of the Order Characiformes (Teleostei: Ostariophysi) using ultraconserved elements, BP.PD

Abstract

Characiformes is one of the largest teleost assemblages with over 2000 valid species of characins, piranhas, tigerfish, tetras and relatives. They occupy a wide variety of freshwater ecosystems across immense regions in both tropical African and American continents. Four families and roughly 230 species inhabit Africa, from Nile valley to tropical sub-Saharan basins, whereas 20 families and over 1,800 species live in the Neotropical region from southern United States to Argentina and Chile, most of them widespread throughout the Amazon and adjacent basins. African characiforms are represented by four families: Alestidae (19 genera, 116 species), Citharinidae (three genera, eight species), Distichodontidae (17 genera, 104 species), and Hepsetidae (one genus, six species). Previous morphological and molecular studies disagree in the phylogenetic position of each of those families. While morphological phylogenies and an exon-based phylogeny place the suborder Citharinoidei (Citharinidae+Distichodontidae) as the first lineage to diverge within the Characiformes, multilocus and genomic studies have repeatedly found Citharinoidei as sister to remaining characiforms (Characoidei) and Siluriformes. These incongruences reinforce the need to further investigate the early-branch portion of Characiformes. Intrafamilial multilocus studies have demonstrated several instances of non-monophyly of several genera within the Alestidae (e.g., Alestopetersius, Brycinus) and Distichodontidae (e.g., Neolebias, Phago) and the placement of Arnoldichthys and Lepidarchus outside Alestidae. All these studies used a limited species coverage within the three analyzed families: ~45% in Alestidae, ~38% in Citharinidae, ~54% in Distichodontidae; and a molecular interspecific phylogeny is not available for Hepsetidae. Herein, we propose the construction of new phylogenies using a phylogenomic approach of sequence capture of ultraconserved elements (UCEs) through next-gen sequencing. The present study will be fundamental for a better understanding of evolutionary relationships in the early branching of the Characiformes and to test the hypotheses of interfamilial, intergeneric and interspecific relationships and macroevolutionary processes shaping this large teleost lineage.

Scientific publications

(6)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MATEUSSI, NADAYCA T. B.; MELO, BRUNO F.; OTA, RAFAELA P.; ROXO, FABIO F.; OCHOA, LUZ E.; FORESTI, FAUSTO; OLIVEIRA, CLAUDIO. Phylogenomics of the Neotropical fish family Serrasalmidae with a novel intrafamilial classification (Teleostei: Characiformes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, v. 153, DEC 2020. (15/00691-9, 14/06853-8, 18/23883-9, 18/24040-5, 16/11313-8, 16/09204-6, 18/20610-1, 14/05051-5, 14/26508-3)

DORINI, BEATRIZ F.; RIBEIRO-SILVA, LUIS R.; FORESTI, FAUSTO; OLIVEIRA, CLAUDIO; MELO, BRUNO F.. Molecular phylogenetics provides a novel hypothesis of chromosome evolution in Neotropical fishes of the genus Potamorhina (Teleostei, Curimatidae). JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGICAL SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH, v. 58, n. 4, JAN 2020. (18/24040-5, 16/11313-8, 14/26508-3)

BRUNO F. MELO. New species of Curimatopsis from the río Caroni, Orinoco basin, Venezuela, with comments on C. macrolepis (Characiformes: Curimatidae). Neotropical Ichthyology, v. 18, n. 2, 2020-06-17. (16/11313-8, 14/26508-3, 18/24040-5)

MELO, BRUNO F.; SIDLAUSKAS, BRIAN L.; NEAR, THOMAS J.; ROXO, FABIO F.; GHEZELAYAGH, AVA; OCHOA, LUZ E.; STIASSNY, MELANIE L. J.; ARROYAVE, JAIRO; CHANG, JONATHAN; FAIRCLOTH, BRANT C.; et al. ccelerated Diversification Explains the Exceptional Species Richness of Tropical Characoid Fishe. Systematic Biology, v. 71, n. 1, p. 78-92, JAN 2022. (14/06853-8, 14/05051-5, 18/24040-5, 15/00691-9, 16/11313-8, 18/23883-9, 14/26508-3)

SIDLAUSKAS, BRIAN L.; ASSEGA, FERNANDO M.; MELO, BRUNO F.; OLIVEIRA, CLAUDIO; BIRINDELLI, JOSE L. O.. otal evidence phylogenetic analysis reveals polyphyly of Anostomoides and uncovers an unexpectedly ancient genus of Anostomidae fishes (Characiformes. ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, v. 194, n. 2, p. 626-669, FEB 1 2022. (14/26508-3, 18/24040-5, 18/20610-1, 16/11313-8, 16/09204-6)

MELO, BRUNO F.; SIDLAUSKAS, BRIAN L.; NEAR, THOMAS J.; ROXO, FABIO F.; GHEZELAYAGH, AVA; OCHOA, LUZ E.; STIASSNY, MELANIE L. J.; ARROYAVE, JAIRO; CHANG, JONATHAN; FAIRCLOTH, BRANT C.; et al. ccelerated Diversification Explains the Exceptional Species Richness of Tropical Characoid Fishe. Systematic Biology, v. 71, n. 1, p. 78-92, DEC 16 2021. (14/05051-5, 16/11313-8, 15/00691-9, 18/24040-5, 18/23883-9, 14/26508-3, 14/06853-8)