Phylogenetic analysis of the relationships and diversification patterns of Trichomycteridae (Teleostei, Siluriformes) using DNA sequences

Abstract

Trichomycteridae is one of the families with the greatest number of species within the superfamily Loricarioidea and its members are widely distributed over Neotropical drainages of South and Central America, inhabiting the most varied ecosystems and adopting different life strategies, for example parasitism. Phylogenetic relationships among members of this group and with other families have been the subject of several studied. The hypotheses of relationships proposed in the literature are mainly supported by morphological characters and few number of species, currently there is no relationship hypothesis including a significant percentage of species of Trichomycteridae, moreover of analysis using molecular characters, as well as a great number of genes. Furthermore, the main studies focus in the Trichomycterinae, and the relationships of the members of the other subfamilies remain poorly studied. This study is part of a larger project that has been developed in the Laboratório de Biologia e Genética de Peixes (LBP) and its main objective is study the diversity and the evolutionary processes responsible for the great number of species of the superfamily Loricarioidea. In these sense, this project pretend to test the hypotheses on which the Trichomycteridae family, as well as its subfamilies are monophyletic groups, and also study the pattern of relationships between members of these groups. For this we will insert a lot of species, representing all genera of Trichomycteridae, and will use traditional methods of molecular phylogenetic analyzes by sequencing mitochondrial and nuclear genes that are currently used to study the pattern of relationship within Siluriformes. We also intend to conduct an analysis using methodologies of second-generation sequencing of UCE (Ultra Conserved Elements) that will be developed with international partnerships. Based on the obtained phylogenies, it also intends to identify patterns of origin and diversification of the group, therefore seeking to contribute about the understanding of macroevolutionary processes that have shaped the diversity of neotropical fishes. (AU)