TY - JOUR
T1 - Cutting through the Gordian knot
T2 - Unravelling morphological, molecular, and biogeographical patterns in the genus Zapteryx (guitarfish) from the Mexican Pacific
AU - Castillo-Páez, Ana
AU - Sandoval-Castillo, Jonathan
AU - Corro-Espinosa, David
AU - Tovar-Ávila, Javier
AU - Blanco-Parra, María Del Pilar
AU - Saavedra-Sotelo, Nancy C.
AU - Sosa-Nishizaki, Oscar
AU - Gálvan-Magaña, Felipe
AU - Rocha-Olivares, Axayacatl
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by internal grant 625112 from Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE) to ARO. The first author benefited from a fellowship from CONACyT to carry out her PhD in Marine Ecology at CICESE. We thank E. Oñate González, O. Santana Morales, P. Suarez Moo, F. Cicala, G. Andrade Dominguez, and A. Torres Torres for assistance with fieldwork. We thank D. Chávez Arrenqúın for the collection of individuals on INAPESCA cruises in Sinaloa. We thank I. Hernández Candelario and F. J. Ponce for help in figure preparation. F.G.M. thanks to Instituto Politécnico Nacional (EDI, COFAA fellowships). Two anonymous reviewers provided constructive comments that helped improve the manuscript.
PY - 2017/7/1
Y1 - 2017/7/1
N2 - Defining species boundaries is important not only for the appropriate attribution of life history and ecological traits but also for sustainable fishery management and for the conservation of biodiversity. Problems arise from taxonomic uncertainty and incorrect species delineation leading to historical misidentification. This is the case of Pacific guitarfishes in the genus Zapteryx. We use a molecular phylogenetic approach combining mitochondrial and nuclear loci to investigate genetic variation in fish along the Mexican Pacific coast. Our analyses reveal a lack of nuclear and mitochondrial distinction between rays identified morphologically as banded guitarfish Z exasperata and as southern banded guitarfish Z. xyster, casting doubts on the validity of their current systematics. However, we detected two mitochondrial lineages in accordance with the number of species described for the Pacific: a "northern" lineage corresponding to Z exasperata and a "southern" lineage possibly attributable to Z. xyster. The poorly understood phenotypic plasticity in coloration and size of the evolutionary lineage of Z. exasperata and its apparently wider than currently thought geographic distribution (at least to Oaxaca) are the major sources of confusion regarding the taxonomic and geographic delineation of these nominal species. In light of our findings, eastern Pacific guitarfishes in the genus Zapteryx require a thorough taxonomic revision using morphological and genetic data to unveil what appears to be a complex pattern of diversification.
AB - Defining species boundaries is important not only for the appropriate attribution of life history and ecological traits but also for sustainable fishery management and for the conservation of biodiversity. Problems arise from taxonomic uncertainty and incorrect species delineation leading to historical misidentification. This is the case of Pacific guitarfishes in the genus Zapteryx. We use a molecular phylogenetic approach combining mitochondrial and nuclear loci to investigate genetic variation in fish along the Mexican Pacific coast. Our analyses reveal a lack of nuclear and mitochondrial distinction between rays identified morphologically as banded guitarfish Z exasperata and as southern banded guitarfish Z. xyster, casting doubts on the validity of their current systematics. However, we detected two mitochondrial lineages in accordance with the number of species described for the Pacific: a "northern" lineage corresponding to Z exasperata and a "southern" lineage possibly attributable to Z. xyster. The poorly understood phenotypic plasticity in coloration and size of the evolutionary lineage of Z. exasperata and its apparently wider than currently thought geographic distribution (at least to Oaxaca) are the major sources of confusion regarding the taxonomic and geographic delineation of these nominal species. In light of our findings, eastern Pacific guitarfishes in the genus Zapteryx require a thorough taxonomic revision using morphological and genetic data to unveil what appears to be a complex pattern of diversification.
KW - Evolutionary lineage
KW - Guitarfish
KW - Mitochondrial DNA
KW - Phenotypic plasticity
KW - RAG1
KW - Species delimitation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85041474898&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/icesjms/fsx021
DO - 10.1093/icesjms/fsx021
M3 - Artículo
SN - 1054-3139
VL - 74
SP - 1630
EP - 1638
JO - ICES Journal of Marine Science
JF - ICES Journal of Marine Science
IS - 6
ER -