title: Identification of a uniquely southern African clade of coastal pipefishes Syngnathus spp.
abstract: The taxonomic status of two southern African coastal pipefish species, Syngnathus temminckii and Syngnathus watermeyeri, was investigated using a combination of morphological and genetic data. Morphological data showed that S. temminckii is distinct from the broadly distributed European pipefish Syngnathus acus, and a molecular phylogeny reconstructed using mitochondrial DNA recovered S. temminckii and S. watermeyeri as sister taxa. The southern African species share an evolutionary origin with north-eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea species, including S. acus. These data support the existence of a distinct southern African clade of Syngnathus pipefishes that has diverged in situ to form the two species present in the region today.
authors.affiliation: South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), Grahamstown, South Africa. m.mwale@saiab.ac.za
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mwale
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kaiser
authors.forename: N P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Barker
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Teske
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D023701:Smegmamorpha / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial