title: Phylogenetic relationships and divergence time estimate of African anguilliform catfish (Siluriformes: Clariidae) inferred from ribosomal gene and spacer sequences.
abstract: The catfish family Clariidae comprises species in which the body shape ranges from fusiform to anguilliform. Recent studies have shown that this body elongation is the result of convergent evolution. This paper aims to study the evolution towards anguilliformity in a phylogenetic framework. Sequences of 29 taxa were analyzed using the neighbor-joining, maximum-likelihood, maximum-parsimony, and Bayesian inference algorithms and the parsimony algorithm in POY. The study yields phylogenetic hypotheses showing well-supported clades. Anguilliformity appears to have arisen at least four times, each time having a sister group relation with a fusiform Clarias-like ancestor. Divergence time estimation indicates that the African Clariidae started radiating between 123 and 56 My ago.
authors.affiliation: Ghent University, Evolutionary Morphology of Vertebrates, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium. gunther.jansen@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Devaere
authors.forename: P H H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Weekers
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Adriaens
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002397:Catfishes / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer