A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of coelacanth fishes (Sarcopterygii, Actinistia) with comments on the composition of the Mawsoniidae and Latimeriidae: evaluating old and new methodological challenges and constraints

Abstract

Institutional abbreviations ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………Section 1: Inputs for analyses ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1.1. List of characters ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1.2. Scoring of Mawsonia …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1.3. Data matrix and notes ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1.4. Stratigraphic occurrences ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1.5. R commands for Stratigraphic Tree Analyses …………………………………………………………………….. Section 2: Phylogenetic analyses ………………………………………………………………………………………………….2.1. List of common synapomorphies of the analysis performed with all taxa …………….…………… 2.2. Majority rule consensus (50%) ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2.3. Implied weighting (analysis performed with all taxa) ……………………………………………………………….2.4. Unstable taxa and Iterative PCR report ………….……………………………………………………………………….. 2.5. MPTs of the analysis performed without three taxa ……………………………………………………………….. 2.6. List of common synapomorphies of the analysis performed without three taxa ……………………... 2.7. Implied weighting (analysis performed without three taxa) …………………………………………………….Section 3: Time-scaled phylogenies ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 3.1. Time-scaled phylogeny with 'basic' approach …………………………………………………………………….3.2. Time-scaled phylogeny with 'mbl' approach ……………………………………………………………………… 3.3. Time-scaled phylogeny with 'equal' approach …………………………………………………………………… Section 4: Indexes throughout bibliography …….………………………………………………………………………..……… Section 5: Methodological considerations on the 'average ghost range' measure …………………………….

Species delimitation and coexistence in an ancient, depauperate vertebrate clade

“…Despite their historical notoriety as a species-poor, morphologically conservative lineage, the fossil record of coelacanths has shown that this clade diversified into a wide variety of morphologies in the ancient past [ 17 , 29 , 49 ]. Fossil coelacanths show bursts of species diversity during the Devonian and Triassic [ 83 ] and achieved a high degree of body size variation ranging from diminutive species less than 5 cm long to 6 + m giants representing some of the largest freshwater fishes [ 18 ].…”

The first late cretaceous mawsoniid coelacanth (Sarcopterygii: Actinistia) from North America: Evidence of a lineage of extinct ‘living fossils’

“…We can even hypothesize that the Cretaceous distribution of the genera pair is the result of an ancient Pangean distribution and experienced the breakup of the supercontinent. In this case, the closely related Jurassic marine genus Trachymetopon [ 30 , 38 , 108 , 112 , 134 ] should be included in the scenario. But again, a well-supported phylogeny is needed to draw biogeographic models.…”

“…The systematics of the Cretaceous mawsoniids is still uncertain, particularly at the specific level, but it is increasingly clear that two sister genera, well supported by all cladistics analyses (e.g. [ 29 , 30 ]), shared their stratigraphic range throughout the Cretaceous: Mawsonia occurred in the Late Jurassic and its range extended until the early Late Cretaceous, while Axelrodichthys is known from the late Early Cretaceous (although the ghost range of its lineage is expected to extend to the Late Jurassic if it is a sister of Mawsonia ) and became extinct in the Late Cretaceous on the basis of our current knowledge [ 28 ].…”

New Insights About the Behavioral Ecology of the Coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae Video Recorded in the Absence of Humans Off South Africa

“…In other fishes such as sharks, their dorsal fin position is fixed, but the positions of their pectoral fins or body postures are used to express behavioral intentions (Martin, 2007). Interestingly, although their body forms have changed somewhat, the DF of coelacanths has not changed much at all across their 400-millionyear history, while other animal lineages have greatly changed, including diverse fish species radiations and the occurrence of many types of fins in fishes (Casane and Laurenti, 2013;Cavin and Guinot, 2014;Larouche et al, 2017;Toriñoa et al, 2021).…”