Subterranean Fishes of the World

6491

2006

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University UMI Number: 3213589

This investigation explores two problems: the intrarelationships of the lamprologine cichlids of Lake Tanganyika, the Malagarasi River, and the Congo River, and the placement of the lamprologine radiation within African cichlids generally. To address these questions, a large dataset is assembled, combining morphological and molecular data, from both the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes. In total, 175 species are analyzed in a combined analysis based on 131 morphological characters and sequence data from mitochondrial 12S, 16S, C O l, and an intron from nuclear S7. Certain relationships are robustly supported, such as a close relationship between lamprologines, the H-lineage haplochromines and allies, and eretmodines, and within lamprologines, a clade united by the appearance of a labial ossification nested within a paraphyletic assemblage of non-ossified species. A cautious approach is taken to revising the classification of lamprologines, balancing the need to eliminate polyphyletic genera with some restraint when dealing with nodes that remain equivocal

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