Morphological analysis of the pharyngeal jaws in two populations of Lebias fasciata Valenciennes, 1821 (Teleostei: Cyprinodontidae)

DNA barcoding and species delimitation of the Old World tooth-carps, family Aphaniidae Hoedeman, 1949 (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes)

The fishes, which have currently named Aphanius Nardo, 1827 are the relict of the ancient ichthyofauna of the Tethys Sea. For a long time since 1827, the genus name has been subjected to revision by several researchers using mainly morphological features. Until recently, no comprehensive single- or multi-locus DNA barcoding study has been conducted on whole members of the family Aphaniidae. In the present study, by applying four conceptually different molecular species delimitation methods, including one distance-based method, one network-based and two topology-based methods, we examined a single-locus DNA barcode library (COI) diversity for the 268 sequences within the family Aphaniidae from the Old World (57 sequences are new in the present study and 211 sequences were retrieved from NCBI database). The molecular analyses revealed a clearer picture of intra-family relationships and allowed us to clarify the generic names, and also describe a new genus for the family Aphaniidae. Results supported distinction of three major clades related to three genera within this family: i) the first clade includes the A. mento group which are placed in a new genus, Paraphanius gen. nov., found in the Orontes (= Asi) and Tigris-Euphrates River drainage, the Levant in coastal waters and the Dead Sea basin, western Jordan, and in southern Turkey in the Mediterranean basins as well as in central Turkey. This clade positioned at the base of the phylogenetic tree, (ii) the second clade contains the A. dispar-like brackish water tooth-carps which are transferred to the genus Aphaniops Hoedeman, 1951 (type species, Lebias dispar), distributed in the coastal waters around the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf basins; and (iii) the third clade, the genus Aphanius Nardo, 1827 (type species Aphanius nanus = A. fasciatus) contains all the inland and inland-related tooth-carps, which are mainly distributed in the inland waters in Turkey and Iran and also in the inland-related drainages around the Mediterranean basin.

A morphometric analysis of polymorphism in the pharyngeal dentition of Cichlasoma minckleyi (Teleostei: Cichlidae)

Dental polymorphism in teleost fishes often involves production of a robust dentition, or "molarization", in one morph. The lower pharyngeals of a sample of wild-caught individuals of the polymorphic Cuatro Cienegas cichlid, Cichlasoma minckleyi (Kornfield and Taylor) (Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 96 (1983) 253), were measured to investigate morphological changes associated with molarization. Principal components analysis demonstrates that dental variability in this species increases in larger fish, and that only the molariform morph contributes to this increase. Reduced major axis regression analyses between pairs of variables indicate that the papilliform morph increases both tooth measures and numbers, whereas the molariform morph maintains a relatively constant number of teeth as it produces teeth of progressively larger size. In the papilliform morph, negative allometric scaling between tooth size and dentigerous area is compensated for by addition of teeth. Tooth size variables are isometric in the molariform morph, and tooth numbers are nearly static. These results are consistent with those reported for other polymorphic cichlid species. Further study is required to elucidate the mechanisms whereby tooth form in polyphyodont species may respond to environmental factors (like food hardness), but possibilities include direct mechanical influences or transmission of signals via nerves to developing replacement teeth.