Support for a ‘Center of Origin’ in the Coral Triangle: Cryptic diversity, recent speciation, and local endemism in a diverse lineage of reef fishes (Gobiidae: Eviota)

Geography and life history traits account for the accumulation of cryptic diversity among Indo-West Pacific coral reef fishes

“…Because species are the fundamental components of ecosystems, delineating species is a mandatory step in the study of their ecological and evolutionary dynamics (Hubbell 2001, Ricklefs 2003ability to infer eco-evolutionary processes from species distributions and abundances (Smith et al 2007, 2008, Hubert et al 2012, Tornabene et al 2015. The increased use of molecular approaches for species delineation and identification, associated with the development of the international Barcode of Life project, has highlighted biases in our perception of species richness (Hebert et al 2004, Smith et al 2007, 2008, Hubert et al 2012.…”

“…Coral reefs represent an example of highly diverse and complex ecosystems where the use of molecular species identifications has opened new perspectives in evolutionary and ecological dynamics (Meyer & Paulay 2005, Barber & Boyce 2006, Bucklin et al 2011, Plaisance et al 2011, Hubert et al 2012, Mat Jaafar et al 2012, Ko et al 2013, Leray et al 2013, Tornabene et al 2015. Teleost fishes constitute the most diverse group of vertebrates in coral reefs, and recent studies have uncovered high levels of cryptic diversity at various spatial scales in Indo-West Pacific reef fishes, ranging from regional (i.e.…”

“…Unacknowledged cryptic diversity in Indo-West Pacific reef fish communities hampers our understanding of diversity patterns (Leprieur et al 2012, Mouillot et al 2013, Pellissier et al 2014) and their origin (McCafferty et al 2002, Kuriiwa et al 2007, Drew & Barber 2009, Leray et al 2010, Winters et al 2010, Gaither et al 2011, Borsa et al 2013, Sims et al 2014, Durand & Borsa 2015, Tornabene et al 2015. A broad assessment of the factors promoting cryptic diversity in coral reef ecosystems is timely, because the exploration of diversity patterns in the Indo-West Pacific is an increasingly debated topic (Jokiel & Martinelli 1992, Briggs 1999, Halas & Winterbottom 2009, Hubert et al 2012, Gaither & Rocha 2013, Tornabene et al 2015. The conservation of coral reefs also requires up-todate checklists of species whose accuracy depends on the approach involved in species delineation (Hubert et al 2012, Winterbottom et al 2014, Pante et al 2015, Tornabene et al 2015.…”

Biogeographic origins of the viviparous sea snake assemblage (Elapidae) of the Indian Ocean

“…Overall, the patterns suggest that most sea snake species in the IO colonised this ocean within the last 3 million years, and have allopatrically speciated from source lineages in the WP. Numerous studies on reef fish (Carpenter and Springer, 2005;Tornabene et al, 2015) and marine invertebrates (Veron, 1995;Barber and Bellwood, 2005) support the view that the peripheral areas such as the IO (compared to the IAA centre) most likely received species through dispersal and colonization from the IAA with relatively little in situ diversification. In contrast, there is evidence to support that the corals of the genus Acropora evolved in the IO or the Mediterranean region and have subsequently dispersed to the WP (Wallace and Muir, 2005).…”

“…Empirical evidence from reef fish (Carpenter and Springer, 2005;Tornabene et al, 2015) and marine invertebrates (Veron, 1995;Barber and Bellwood, 2005;Lavery et al, 1996;Crandall et al, 2008) indicate that the IAA and the regions within the WP function as a centre of speciation producing new species which move outwards. This is further supported by the observation that the higher proportions of endemic species being present in the furthest corners of the peripheral areas such as the red sea in the IO and the Hawaiian islands in the Eastern Pacific (Mora et al, 2003;Tittensor et al, 2010;DiBattista et al, 2016a).…”