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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Artículo científico |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
Molecular phylogenetics and evolution
2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41740731/ |
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Table of Contents:
- The origin of cichlids: The controversial phylogenomics of the convict fish, Pholidichthys leucotaenia. Witte, Eric Yamamoto, Shinji Salazar-Sawkins, Allyson Hinojosa, Natasha Toy, Jason Chen, Cerise Abdel-Raheem, Salma Johns, Jason Bernardi, Giacomo Animals Cichlids Phylogeny Bayes Theorem Genome, Mitochondrial Likelihood Functions DNA, Mitochondrial Cell Nucleus Sequence Analysis, DNA Evolution, Molecular Genomics Models, Genetic Cichlids (family Cichlidae) are a highly diverse group of freshwater fishes that have served as key models in evolutionary biology. A contentious hypothesis based on molecular data suggested that the convict fish, Pholidichthys, a marine fish found in the coral triangle, is the sister taxon to cichlids. To evaluate this relationship, we conducted phylogenetic analyses using three genomic datasets-complete mitochondrial genomes, nuclear BUSCO genes, and ultra-conserved elements (UCEs)-and applied multiple inference methods, including Distance, Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood, and Bayesian approaches. Across all methods and datasets, our results did not consistently support a sister relationship between Pholidichthys and cichlids. Mitochondrial and nuclear phylogenies often placed them in different clades, with cichlids clustering more robustly with other Ovalentaria, such as embiotocids and pomacentrids. While some individual UCE and BUSCO trees grouped cichlids and Pholidichthys, support was overall inconsistent. Additionally, morphological and genomic differences, including caudal skeleton structure and genome size, further challenge the sister-taxon hypothesis. Our results suggest that previous claims of a close evolutionary relationship between Pholidichthys and cichlids, while possible, are premature and warrant re-evaluation using expanded taxon sampling and more comprehensive data.