Phylogeny of the family Characidae (Teleostei: Characiformes): from characters to taxonomy

Abstract

The family Characidae is the most diverse among Neotropical fishes. Systematics of this family are mainly based on precladistic papers, and only recently a phylogenetic hypothesis for Characidae was proposed by the author. That phylogeny was based on 360 morphological characters studied for 160 species, including representatives of families related to Characidae. This paper is based on that phylogenetic analysis, with the analyzed characters described herein and documented, accompanied by comparisons of their definition and coding in previous papers. Synapomorphies of each node of the proposed phylogeny are listed, comparisons with previous classifications provided, and autapomorphies of the analyzed species listed. Taxonomic implications of the proposed classification and the position of the incertae sedis genera within Characidae are discussed. A discussion of the phylogenetic information of the characters used in the classical systematics of the Characidae is provided.La familia Characidae es la más diversa entre los peces neotropicales. La sistemática de esta familia está basada principalmente en trabajos pre-cladísticos, y sólo recientemente una hipótesis filogenética para Characidae fue propuesta por el autor. Esa filogenia estaba basada en 360 caracteres estudiados en 160 especies, incluyendo representantes de familias relacionadas a Characidae. Este trabajo está basado en ese análisis filogenético, y los caracteres analizados son aquí descriptos y documentados, comparando su definición y codificación con trabajos previos. Las sinapomorfías de cada nodo de la filogenia propuesta son listadas, y se incluyen comparaciones con clasificaciones previas; también se listan las autapomorfías de las especies analizadas. Las implicancias taxonómicas de la clasificación propuesta y la posición de los géneros incertae sedis dentro de Characidae son discutidas. También se presenta una discusión de la información filogenética de los caracteres usados en la sistemática clásica de Characidae.

The brain of Brycon orbignyanus (Valenciennes, 1850) (Teleostei: Characiformes: Bryconidae): gross morphology and phylogenetic considerations

“…1-3). Also, in many significant past papers the genus Brycon was considered "primitive", "generalized" or phylogenetically basal in the Neotropical Characiformes, or at least in relation to the Characidae, sharing several osteological features with basal African groups (see Weitzman, 1962;Buckup, 1998;Mirande, 2009Mirande, , 2010Weitzman, 2003 andOliveira et al, 2011).…”

“…These Otophysi brain studies have unequivocally shown that the central nervous system can be an important source of phylogenetically informative morphological characters, although relatively unexplored. Bearing that in mind, we have chosen Brycon orbignyanus, a member of the putative generalized and phylogenetically basal family Bryconidae (Roberts, 1969;Mirande, 2009Mirande, , 2010Oliveira et al, 2011), to be described as an example of a generalized Characiformes brain.…”

Two new species and a review of the inseminating freshwater fish genus Monotocheirodon (Characiformes: Characidae) from Peru and Bolivia

“…After its inclusion with inseminating clade A characids (Weitzman et al, 2005) and subsequently the subfamily Stevardiinae (Mirande, 2010;Oliveira et al, 2011) the first attempt to resolve the relationships of Monotocheirodon with the other stevardiin genera was by Ferreira et al (2011). This involved 153 characters, including features of morphology, reproduction and sperm ultrastructure.…”

“…Weitzman et al (2005) in a discussion of inseminating characids associated with the inseminating characid subfamilies Stevardiinae and Glandulocaudinae found all three described species of Montocheirodon to be inseminating and included them in a subgroup within Clade A consisting of genera with inseminating species. Mirande (2010) proposed that the members of Clade A characids along with a few additional characid genera were a monophyletic group which he named subfamily Stevardiinae. Their phylogenetic relationships were not resolved and as emphasized by Ferreira et al (2011) were depicted as forming a large polytomy.…”

Phylogenetic signal and major ecological shifts in the ecomorphological structure of stream fish in two river basins in Brazil

“…We constructed a composite phylogenetic hypothesis for the 33 stream fish species based on six different studies (de Pinna, 1998;Montoya-Burgos, 2003;Armbruster, 2004;Mirande, 2010;Near et al, 2012;Sullivan et al, 2013). The phylogeny was built by hand using Mesquite v.2.75 (Maddison & Maddison, 2011).…”