title: Molecular systematics and taxonomic status of three latitudinally widespread nototheniid (Perciformes: Notothenioidei) fishes from the Southern Ocean.
abstract: The taxonomic status of the three nototheniids, Lepidonotothen squamifrons, L. larseni and Gobionotothen marionensis from different localities in the Southern Ocean is re-evaluated at the DNA level. DNA sequence divergences and phylogenetic relationship were estimated using a combined mitochondrial (mtDNA, ND2 and COI) dataset and data for one nuclear gene (S7 intron 1). Phylogenies of both datasets had Lepidonotothen kempi nested within L. squamifrons lineage, with low sequence divergences (0% to 0.4%) between the two nominal species suggesting that they are populations of one species. Therefore, these results do not support the previous splitting of L. squamifrons into different species. Similarly, the L. larseni specimens also represented a single genetic unit (0.3% to 0.6%) with low geographic variation between Atlantic and Indian Ocean specimens, which does not support the splitting of this species into geographically restricted species. The mtDNA phylogeny clearly separated individuals of G. acuta from Kerguelen, Heard and MacDonald Islands from G. marionensis individuals into different clades, with sequence divergence of 2.9% between these clades supporting they are different species.
authors.affiliation: South African Instituted for Aquatic Biodiversity, Private Bag 1015, Grahamstown, 6139, South Africa Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries, Rhodes University, Box 94, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa; Email: t.miya@saiab.ac.za.
authors.forename: Tshoanelo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miya
authors.affiliation: South African Instituted for Aquatic Biodiversity, Private Bag 1015, Grahamstown, 6139, South Africa; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Ofer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gon
authors.affiliation: South African Instituted for Aquatic Biodiversity, Private Bag 1015, Grahamstown, 6139, South Africa National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, PO Box 754, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mwale
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Nuñoa, Santiago, Chile; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Elie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Poulin
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D017753:Ecosystem; D005260:Female; D029941:Fish Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010473:Perciformes / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D029941:Fish Proteins