Multiple factors have shaped the phylogeography of Chinese spiny loach Cobitis sinensis in Taiwan as inferred from mitochondrial DNA variation

Abstract

Mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b sequences (1140 bp) in 61 specimens of Chinese spiny loach Cobitis sinensis from 12 drainages in Taiwan were identified as two major clades, exhibiting a southern and a northern distribution, north of TzengWen and south of TzengWen (including TzengWen), respectively. The divergence time between these two phylogroups was estimated at 7.34-9.06 million years before present (B.P.), but these two phylogroups were formed c. 3.41-4.23 and 2.22-2.75 M B.P., respectively. Moreover, geological events have been recalculated that Taiwan Island emerged above sea level at an estimate of c. 4-5 M B.P., and quickly became its present shape at c. 2 M B.P. through mountain building. These results suggest that these two major clades of C. sinensis in Taiwan might originate from two different continental populations, since the island's initial isolation in the Pliocene. Within southern Taiwan, the initial colonization was hypothesized to be in KaoPing River, followed by its northward dispersal. The high divergence between KaoPing and TzengWen was influenced by glaciations and landforms. Within north Taiwan, the colonization was from the Miaoli Plateau through western Taiwan to north-eastern and northern Taiwan. This dispersal pattern is concordant with the previously proposed hypothesis. Apparently, both geological and phylogeographic evidence suggested that river capture of the upper Takia River by the LanYang River promoted range expansion in freshwater fishes and also indicated that the Central Range within Taiwan did not act as a barrier to the dispersal of C. sinensis.

Phylogeographical Analysis on Squalidus argentatus Recapitulates Historical Landscapes and Drainage Evolution on the Island of Taiwan and Mainland China

“…Cyt b sequences were globally G deficient (15.0%), which is characteristic of the mitochondrial genome [22]; the other nucleotides had similar frequencies (A = 27.8%; C = 29.2%; T = 28.0%). This nucleotide composition has been frequently reported in cyt b -based studies on a variety of fishes, including cyprinids [8,23]. …”

“…The phylogeography of the cyprinid fish distributed in rivers of western Taiwan ( Varicorhinus barbatulus , [34]; Formosania lacustre , [35]; Cobitis sinensis , [23]) indicates that the Miaoli Plateau was the last region isolated from the Minjiang River in mainland China. However, freshwater fishes of the Tamsui River may have another dispersal route.…”

Phylogeography and genetic structure of the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae) in East Asia

“…This outcome is different from the outcomes that were often found of a high degree of phylogeographically related genetic structure [11, 42, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54]. This might be because the expansion time for lineage A (209,533 yrs ago) or lineage B (49,248 yrs ago) were too short to accumulate enough genetic variation and form geographically unique clade [55, 56, 57].…”

Spatial genetic structure of the cyprinid fish Onychostoma lepturum on Hainan Island

“…Many studies of the phylogeography of freshwater fishes on Taiwan Island have been proposed (e.g. Wang et al 2000Wang et al , 2004Wang et al , 2011Liao et al 2008;Lin et al 2008;Chiang et al, 2010Chiang et al, , 2011Jaen et al 2014). However, the population genetic structure of freshwater fish on Hainan Island is unknown.…”

“…MtDNA sequences are usually analyzed in studies of animal phylogeography (e.g. Chen et al 2007;Yang, Dong, et al 2009;Yang, Mayden, et al 2009;Chiang et al 2010Chiang et al , 2011Chiang et al , 2013Yang et al 2012;Hsu et al 2014). Our study attempted to determine the genetic structure of O. lepturum on Hainan Island.…”