Early Biogeography of Otophysi Points to the Neotropics as the Cradle of Characiphysan Fishes.

ABSTRACT: Freshwaters represent less than 1% of Earth's surface and only 0.02% of the available aquatic habitable volume, yet they host nearly half of the 35,500 known species of bony fishes. Ostariophysan fishes account for 70% of all freshwater fish diversity, comprising approximately 12,000 species across five highly speciose orders. They represent a major evolutionary radiation, the internal phylogenetic relationships of which remain the subject of intense debate. To better understand their early evolutionary history and origin, we reconstructed their phylogeny using dense taxonomic sampling and a combined dataset of complete mitochondrial genomes and sequences from four nuclear genes. Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times were inferred using Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood approaches

SUBMITTER: Lenglin A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12619110 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature