title: Taxonomic validity and phylogenetic relationships of a newly-described tooth-carp, Aphanius mesopotamicus Coad, 2009 (Teleostei: Cyprinodontidae).
abstract: Variation among complete cytb sequences (1140 bp) of Aphanius mesopotamicus Coad, 2009 was compared with closely related species, to investigate the validity of this taxon as a newly-described tooth-carp based on morphological characteristics. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian likelihood trees supported the monophyly of A. mesopotamicus and its sister group relationship to A. sophiae. Some 10-16 differences were found when compared to four different population samples of A. sophiae, whereas, intraspecific differences were only up to 6 bp. These distances suggest divergence from a common ancestor with A. sophiae at roughly 1 million years ago. These results are congruent with morphology-based hypotheses, indicating a recent speciation event.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Marine Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Iran; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Mohammad Sadegh
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Alavi-Yeganeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources (Fisheries Division), Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Yazdan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Keivany
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Marine Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Iran; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Jafar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seyfabadi
authors.affiliation: Cellular & Molecular Biology Research Center and Biotechnology Department, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Bahram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kazemi
authors.affiliation: Departement of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Graham P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Wallis
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D045303:Cytochromes b / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D029941:Fish Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005399:Fishes / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D029941:Fish Proteins; D045303:Cytochromes b