A cornucopia of cryptic species - a DNA barcode analysis of the gobiid fish genus Trimma (Percomorpha, Gobiiformes).

ABSTRACT: A genetic analysis of partial mitochondrial 5' cytochrome c oxidase I gene (DNA barcode) sequences of 473 specimens assigned to 52 morphological species (including four known, but not formally named, species) of the gobiid genus Trimma revealed the presence of 94 genetic lineages. Each lineage was separated by > 2% sequence divergence. Thus there were an additional 42 haplogroups recognizable as provisional candidate species given that a value of > 2% difference is typical of different species of fishes. Such a high degree of apparently different cryptic species is, in our experience, virtually unprecedented among vertebrates. These results have precipitated further morphological research in a few cases, which has uncovered subtle differences independently corroborating the genetic results

SUBMITTER: Winterbottom R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3950426 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature