Meeting Abstract

P3.104  Thursday, Jan. 6  The evolution of male parental care in darters (Percidae: Etheostoma) KELLY, N.B.*; ALONZO, S.H.; Yale University, New Haven; Yale University, New Haven natasha.kelly@yale.edu

Of the 87 families of teleost fishes that exhibit some form of parental care behaviour, 49% provide male-only care, while 7% provide female-only care. This makes fish uniquely suited for studying the evolution of paternal care in vertebrates. The darters, (Etheostoma), are a genus of North American freshwater fishes that contains both non-parental species and species with male-only care. Of the over 220 darter species, 106 have reproductive behaviours described. Male parental care has been hypothesized to have evolved independently in this genus at least three times; in the subgenera Boleosoma, Catonotus, and Nothonotus. Paternal care take the form of egg guarding and other egg tending behaviours which are dependent on the female mode of egg deposition. In those species where male care occurs, females deposit eggs in small clumps attached to the substrate or larger clutches attached to the underneath of the substrate. In species where no care occurs, females either bury their eggs or deposit eggs singly. Page (1985) hypothesized that these different modes of egg deposition formed a progression in the evolution of male care in darters. Here, we use the published descriptions of darter reproductive behaviour to map behavioural traits on to a previously existing phylogenetic tree in order to investigate the evolution of paternal care in darters.