Date of Award
Spring 5-2015
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Biological Sciences
Committee Chair
Mac H. Alford
Committee Chair Department
Biological Sciences
Committee Member 2
George F. Pessoney
Committee Member 2 Department
Biological Sciences
Committee Member 3
Jacob F. Schaefer
Committee Member 3 Department
Biological Sciences
Committee Member 4
Brian R. Kreiser
Committee Member 4 Department
Biological Sciences
Committee Member 5
Carl A. Reese
Committee Member 5 Department
Geography and Geology
Abstract
A recent taxonomic revision of the Neotropical catfish genus Rhamdia (Pisces: Siluriformes: Heptapteridae) reduced a number of described species to synonymy, especially under a broadly circumscribed R. quelen. Evidence is presented here from DNA sequence data, external and internal morphology, and morphometrics that argues for the recognition of R. guatemalensis in Central and northern South America and R. saijaensis and R. cinerascens in the Pacific drainages of Colombia and Ecuador, respectively. The DNA data indicate that all trans-Andean samples form a monophyletic group, within which there are separate clades corresponding to R. laticauda and the synonymized R. guatemalensis, R. saijaensis, and R. cinerascens. The morphometric data substantiate the phylogenetic groupings, and in external morphology, each putative species has diagnostic characters. The external and internal morphological differences and phylogenetic relationships indicate that these groups are both recognizable and represent independent lineages, which argue for their recognition as species.
Copyright
2015, Carmen Liliana Hernández Torres
Recommended Citation
Hernández Torres, Carmen Liliana, "Species Delimitation, Phylogenetics, and Biogeography of the Catfish Genus Rhamdia Bleeker (Heptapteridae) of Central America and the Trans-Andean Region of Colombia" (2015). Dissertations. 87.
https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/87