DOI
10.1590/1982-0224-20180007
Abstract
The family Rivulidae is the fourth most diverse clade of Neotropical fishes. Together with some genera of the related African family Nothobranchiidae, many rivulids exhibit a characteristic annual life cycle, with diapausing eggs and delayed embryonic development, which allows them to survive in the challenging seasonal ponds that they inhabit. Rivulidae also includes two species known as the only the self-fertilizing vertebrates and some species with internal fertilization. The first goal of this article is to review the systematics of the family considering phylogenetic relationships and synapomorphies of subfamilial clades, thus unifying information that is dispersed throughout the literature. From this revision, it is clear that phylogenetic relationships within Rivulidae are poorly resolved, especially in one of the large clades that compose it, the subfamily Rivulinae, where conflicting hypotheses of relationships of non-annual and annual genera are evident. The second goal of this work is to present an updated phylogenetic hypothesis (based on mitochondrial, nuclear, and morphological information) for one of the most speciose genus of Rivulidae, Austrolebias. Our results confirm the monophyly of the genus and of some subgeneric clades already diagnosed, but propose new relationships among them and their species composition, particularly in the subgenus Acrolebias.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2018
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2018 Sociedade Brasileira de Ictiologia. This article first appeared in Neotropical Ichthyology 16, no. 3 (October 18, 2018): e180007: 1-20. doi: 10.1590/1982-0224-20180007.
Please note that downloads of the article are for private/personal use only.
Recommended Citation
Loureiro, Marcelo, Rafael de Sá, Sebastián W. Serra, Felipe Alonso, Luis Esteban Krause Lanés, Matheus Vieira Volcan, Pablo Calviño, Dalton Nielsen, Alejandro Duarte, and Graciela Garcia. “Review of the Family Rivulidae (Cyprinodontiformes, Aplocheiloidei) and a Molecular and Morphological Phylogeny of the Annual Fish Genus Austrolebias Costa 1998.” Neotropical Ichthyology 16, no. 3 (October 18, 2018): e180007: 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0224-20180007.