Journal Article
Convergence among cave catfishes: long-branch attraction and a Bayesian relative rates test
Wilcox, T.P., Garcia de Leon, F.J., Hendrickson, D.A. and Hillis, D.M.
Record Number:
2326
Year:
2004
Journal:
Molecular Phylogentics and Evolution
Pages:
1103-1113
Volume:
31
Abstract:
Convergence has long been of interest to evolutionary biologists. Cave organisms appear to be ideal candidates for studying
convergence in morphological, physiological, and developmental traits. Here we report apparent convergence in two cave-catfishes
that were described on morphological grounds as congeners: Prietella phreatophila and Prietella lundbergi. We collected mitochondrial
DNA sequence data from 10 species of catfishes, representing five of the seven genera in Ictaluridae, as well as seven
species from a broad range of siluriform outgroups. Analysis of the sequence data under parsimony supports a monophyletic
Prietella. However, both maximum-likelihood and Bayesian analyses support polyphyly of the genus, with P. lundbergi sister to
Ictalurus and P. phreatophila sister to Ameiurus. The topological difference between parsimony and the other methods appears to
result from long-branch attraction between the Prietella species. Similarly, the sequence data do not support several other relationships
within Ictaluridae supported by morphology. We develop a new Bayesian method for examining variation in molecular
rates of evolution across a phylogeny.
Times Cited:
4