title: Examining evolutionary relationships and shifts in depth preferences in batfishes (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae).
abstract: Batfishes (Ogcocephalidae) are an understudied, group of marine anglerfishes that are dorsoventrally flattened and have an illicium and esca (terminal lure) used to attract prey. The family contains 10 genera and 75 recognized species from nearly all tropical and subtropical seas. Relationships among these taxa, as well as the position of Ogcocephalidae within Lophiiformes, remain poorly understood with previous studies showing conflicting, and poorly resolved results. The timing of divergence and depth of origination in the water column have also not been explored in any detail. In this study a concatenated nuclear (three genes) and mitochondrial (two genes) dataset was constructed across several anglerfish families to elucidate phylogenetic relationships among all ten batfish genera, to clarify the placement of Ogcocephaloidei within Lophiiformes, and to estimate divergence times using fossil calibrations. An ancestral state reconstruction was also conducted to examine the history of shifts in preferred habitat depths within batfishes. Phylogenetic analyses supported monophyly of each sub-order within Lophiiformes and placed Ogcocephaloidei as the sister group to Antennarioidei. Batfish genera were divided into an Eastern Pacific/Western Atlantic clade and an Indo-Pacific clade; Halieutaea was recovered as the sister group to all other batfishes. Based on divergence time estimations and ancestral state reconstructions of preferred depth, Ogcocephalidae is Eocene in age and originated on the lower continental shelf/upper continental slope (disphotic zone).
authors.affiliation: Section of Ichthyology, LSU Museum of Natural Science, 119 Foster Hall, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States. Electronic address: valerie.derouen@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Derouen
authors.affiliation: Section of Ichthyology, LSU Museum of Natural Science, 119 Foster Hall, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States.
authors.forename: William B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Ludt
authors.affiliation: National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium, No. 2, Houwan Rd., Checheng, Pingtung, Taiwan; Institute of Marine Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, National Dong Hwa University, No. 2, Houwan Rd., Checheng, Pingtung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsuan-Ching
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.affiliation: Section of Ichthyology, LSU Museum of Natural Science, 119 Foster Hall, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States.
authors.forename: Prosanta
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chakrabarty
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D005399:Fishes / Q000145:classification*; D005580:Fossils; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
keywords: Anglerfishes; Divergence times; Habitat shifts; Phylogenetics; Systematics