A continental-wide molecular approach unraveling mtDNA diversity and geographic distribution of the Neotropical genus Hoplias

With an estimate of around 9,000 species, the Neotropical region hosts the greatest diversity of freshwater fishes of the world. Genetic surveys have the potential to unravel isolated and unique lineages and may result in the identification of undescribed species, accelerating the cataloguing of ext...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2018-08, Vol.13 (8), p.e0202024-e0202024
Main Authors: Cardoso, Yamila P, Rosso, Juan J, Mabragaña, Ezequiel, González-Castro, Mariano, Delpiani, Matías, Avigliano, Esteban, Bogan, Sergio, Covain, Raphael, Schenone, Nahuel F, Díaz de Astarloa, Juan M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Argentina
Bar codes
Biodiversity
Biogeography
Biology and Life Sciences
Catfish
Chromosomes
Computer and Information Sciences
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Divergence
DNA
DNA barcoding
DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic
DNA, Mitochondrial
Earth Sciences
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Fish
Fishes - classification
Fishes - genetics
Fresh Water
Freshwater fish
Gap analysis
Gene sequencing
Genetic Variation
Geographical distribution
Hoplias
Mitochondria
Mitochondrial DNA
Morphology
Phylogeny
Phylogeography
Polls & surveys
Research and analysis methods
River basins
Rivers
Species
Species diversity
Surveys
Taxonomy
Tropical Climate
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Summary:With an estimate of around 9,000 species, the Neotropical region hosts the greatest diversity of freshwater fishes of the world. Genetic surveys have the potential to unravel isolated and unique lineages and may result in the identification of undescribed species, accelerating the cataloguing of extant biodiversity. In this paper, molecular diversity within the valuable and widespread Neotropical genus Hoplias was assessed by means of DNA Barcoding. The geographic coverage spanned 40 degrees of latitude from French Guiana to Argentina. Our analyses revealed 22 mitochondrial lineages fully supported by means of Barcode Index Number, Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery and phylogenetic analyses. This mtDNA survey revealed the existence of 15 fully supported mitochondrial lineages within the once considered to be the continentally distributed H. malabaricus. Only four of them are currently described as valid species however, leaving 11 mitochondrial lineages currently "masked" within this species complex. Mean genetic divergence was 13.1%. Barcoding gap analysis discriminated 20 out of the 22 lineages tested. Phylogenetic analyses showed that all taxonomically recognized species form monophyletic groups. Hoplias malabaricus sensu stricto clustered within a large clade, excluding the representatives of the La Plata River Basin. In the H. lacerdae group, all species but H. curupira showed a cohesive match between taxonomic and molecular identification. Two different genetic lineages were recovered for H. aimara. Given the unexpected hidden mitochondrial diversity within H. malabaricus, the COI sequence composition of specimens from Suriname (the type locality), identified as H. malabaricus sensu stricto, is of major importance.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0202024