The root of the East African cichlid radiations.

ABSTRACT:

Background

For decades cichlid fishes (Perciformes: Cichlidae) of the East African cichlid radiations (Teleostei: Cichlidae) have served as natural experimental subjects for the study of speciation processes and the search for potential speciation key factors. Despite numerous phylogenetic studies dealing with their intragroup relationships, surprisingly little is known about the phylogenetic placement and time of origin of this enigmatic group. We used multilocus DNA-sequence data from five nuclear and four mitochondrial genes and refined divergence time estimates to fill this knowledge gap.

Results

In concordance with previous studies, the root of the East African cichlid radiations is nested within the so called "Tilapias", which is a paraphyletic assemblage. For the firs

SUBMITTER: Schwarzer J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2739198 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature