title: Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of air sac catfishes of the Heteropneustes fossilis species complex (Siluriformes: Heteropneustidae).
abstract: The air sac catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis (Siluriformes: Heteropneustidae), is widely distributed in freshwaters of the Indian subcontinent and mainland southeast Asia. No comprehensive molecular studies that cover the broad distributional areas have been carried out to date. Here, we conducted molecular phylogenetic analyses using both mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences to suggest that the Heteropneustes fossilis species complex consists of three clades that may potentially be separate species with distinct geographical distribution (southeast Asia, northeastern India, and southwestern India). The first and second clades are more closely related to each other than they are to the third clade. Within the first clade there is a basal divergence of a subclade consisting of individuals from the Upper Irrawaddy River basin of Myanmar, which share some morphological traits with members of the Indian clades. Our molecular and morphological data are congruent with hypotheses that the Early-Middle Miocene disconnection between the paleo-Tsangpo River and the Irrawaddy River caused the vicariant divergence between southeast Asian and northeastern Indian clades, and that the southeast Asian Heteropneustes originated from the Upper Irrawaddy.
authors.affiliation: Andaman Coastal Research Station for Development, Kasetsart University Research and Development Institute, Kasetsart University, Suksamran, Ranong 85120, Thailand; Department of Information and Biological Sciences and Research Center for Biological Diversity, Graduate School of Natural Sciences, Nagoya City University, Nagoya 467-8501, Japan. Electronic address: rdishr@ku.ac.th.
authors.forename: Sahat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ratmuangkhwang
authors.affiliation: Department of Fishery Biology, Faculty of Fisheries, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand. Electronic address: ffispcm@ku.ac.th.
authors.forename: Prachya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Musikasinthorn
authors.affiliation: Department of Information and Biological Sciences and Research Center for Biological Diversity, Graduate School of Natural Sciences, Nagoya City University, Nagoya 467-8501, Japan. Electronic address: kuma@nsc.nagoya-cu.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kumazawa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001210:Asia, Southeastern; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002397:Catfishes / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D007194:India; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
keywords: Air sac catfish; Biogeography; Heteropneustes fossilis; Molecular phylogeny; River capture