Open AccessThe phylogeny of a reduced ‘sand goby’ group based on behavioural and life history characters
Author(s) -
MALAVASI STEFANO,
GKENAS CHRISTOS,
LEONARDOS IOANNIS,
TORRICELLI PATRIZIA,
MCLENNAN DEBORAH A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
zoological journal of the linnean society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.148
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1096-3642
pISSN - 0024-4082
DOI - 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00832.x
Subject(s) - goby , biology , pomatoschistus , paraphyly , monophyly , phylogenetic tree , clade , zoology , ecology , evolutionary biology , fishery , fish <actinopterygii> , biochemistry , gene
Phylogenetic analysis of 27 behavioural and life history traits for five Mediterranean sand goby species (Perciformes, Gobiidae) produced one tree with a consistency index (excluding uninformative characters) of 0.756. This tree agreed with previous molecular analyses in providing strong support for the monophyly of the sand gobies, indicating that Pomatoschistus and Knipowitschia are paraphyletic and helping to resolve the ambiguous position of Economidichthys pygmaeus , placing it as the basal member of the reduced data set. Although the tree was completely resolved, the branches above E. pygmaeus were only moderately supported in the bootstrap analysis. Overall, the behavioural data provide information that may eventually help clarify the speciation bursts within the Mediterranean sand goby clade as much as is possible. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2012, 165 , 916–924.