Atherina punctata and Atherina lagunae (Pisces, Atherinidae), new species found in the Mediterranean sea. 2. Molecular investigations of three Atherinid species.
On the basis of morphoanatomical parameters, the sand smelt species (Atherina boyeri Risso, 1810) is viewed as a highly polymorphic complex. In this study, intraspecific sequence variation in a portion of the cytochrome b gene was examined in 88 individuals from Tunisia and France. The correlation between the results of statistical analysis of the sequence data using a variety of tree-building algorithms and morphoanatomical analyses demonstrated the subdivision into three putative species: A. boyeri, which only includes non-punctuated fishes, A. punctata, which corresponds to punctuated fishes and A. lagunae, which corresponds to atherines living in lagoons.
Trabelsi
Monia
M
EA 2202, place Victor-Hugo, université de Provence, 13331 Marseille, France.
Gilles
André
A
Fleury
Caroline
C
Mâamouri
Fadhila
F
Quignard
Jean-Pierre
JP
Faure
Eric
E
D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D003573:Cytochrome b Group / Q000235:genetics*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D005399:Fishes / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D010802:Phylogeny; D013045:Species Specificity
D003573:Cytochrome b Group