Temporal diversification of Central American cichlids.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cichlid fishes are classic examples of adaptive radiation because of their putative tendency to explosively diversify after invading novel environments. To examine whether ecological opportunity increased diversification (speciation minus extinction) early in a species-rich cichlid radiation, we determined if Heroine cichlids experienced a burst of diversification following their invasion of Central America.

Results

We first reconstructed the Heroine phylogeny and determined the basal node to use as the root of Central American Heroine diversification. We then examined the influence of incomplete taxon sampling on this group's diversification patterns. First, we added missing species randomly to the phylogeny and assessed deviations from a constant rate of lineage

SUBMITTER: Hulsey CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2944184 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature