title: Molecular phylogeny of the highly diversified catfish subfamily Loricariinae (Siluriformes, Loricariidae) reveals incongruences with morphological classification.
abstract: The Loricariinae belong to the Neotropical mailed catfish family Loricariidae, the most species-rich catfish family. Among loricariids, members of the Loricariinae are united by a long and flattened caudal peduncle and the absence of an adipose fin. Despite numerous studies of the Loricariidae, there is no comprehensive phylogeny of this morphologically highly diversified subfamily. To fill this gap, we present a molecular phylogeny of this group, including 350 representatives, based on the analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear genes (8426 positions). The resulting phylogeny indicates that Loricariinae are distributed into two sister tribes: Harttiini and Loricariini. The Harttiini tribe, as classically defined, constitutes a paraphyletic assemblage and is here restricted to the three genera Harttia, Cteniloricaria, and Harttiella. Two subtribes are distinguished within Loricariini: Farlowellina and Loricariina. Within Farlowellina, the nominal genus formed a paraphyletic group, as did Sturisoma and Sturisomatichthys. Within Loricariina, Loricaria, Crossoloricaria, and Apistoloricaria are also paraphyletic. To solve these issues, and given the lack of clear morphological diagnostic features, we propose here to synonymize several genera (Quiritixys with Harttia; East Andean members of Crossoloricaria, and Apistoloricaria with Rhadinoloricaria; Ixinandria, Hemiloricaria, Fonchiiichthys, and Leliella with Rineloricaria), to restrict others (Crossoloricaria, and Sturisomatichthys to the West Andean members, and Sturisoma to the East Andean species), and to revalidate the genus Proloricaria.
authors.affiliation: Muséum d'histoire naturelle, Département d'herpétologie et d'ichtyologie, route de Malagnou 1, case postale 6434, CH-1211 Genève 6, Switzerland. Electronic address: raphael.covain@ville-ge.ch.
authors.forename: Raphaël
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Covain
authors.affiliation: Muséum d'histoire naturelle, Département d'herpétologie et d'ichtyologie, route de Malagnou 1, case postale 6434, CH-1211 Genève 6, Switzerland. Electronic address: sonia.fisch-muller@ville-ge.ch.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fisch-Muller
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Morfologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Instituto de Biociências, Laboratório de Biologia e Genética de Peixes, Rubião Junior 18618-970, Botucatu, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: claudio@ibb.unesp.br.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: University of Suriname, Center for Agricultural Research in Suriname, CELOS and Department of Biology, POB 9212, Paramaribo, Suriname. Electronic address: fisheco@celos.sr.org.
authors.forename: Jan H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Mol
authors.affiliation: Université de Genève, Département de Génétique et Evolution, Sciences III, quai E. Ansermet 30, CH-1211 Genève 4, Switzerland. Electronic address: juan.montoya@unige.ch.
authors.forename: Juan I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Montoya-Burgos
authors.affiliation: Université de Lyon, F-69000 Lyon, France; Université Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR5558, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France. Electronic address: stephane.dray@univ-lyon1.fr.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dray
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002397:Catfishes / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D058889:Molecular Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
keywords: Amazon basin; Freshwaters; Mitochondrial genes; Neotropics; Nuclear genes; Systematics