Meeting Abstract

1.2  Jan. 4  A molecular phylogeny of the Perciformes using the nuclear RAG1 gene MAHON, A.R.*; CARPENTER, K.E.; Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA; Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA amahon@odu.edu

The order Perciformes contains approximately 160 families and over 10,000 species. This accounts for more than one third of all fishes and is the single largest order of vertebrates. Although studies testing the limits and relationships its individual families and groups are commonplace, few serious attempts have been made to test the monophyly of the entire order or to investigate the evolutionary relationships between its 20 putative suborders. This study utilized approximately 1500 bases of the single copy nuclear recombination activating gene 1 (RAG1) to infer phylogenetic relationships between families suborders of the Perciformes in the context of its putative sister groups. Preliminary analyses provide support for some previously reported hypotheses and also offer some novel interpretations. Resulting cladograms resolve the Perciformes as polyphyletic. Although the RAG1 gene shows a lack of statistical support for some mid-level groupings in both maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood analyses, we resolve a well supported monophyletic percomorph group that includes the Atheriniformes, Beloniformes, Gasterosteiformes, Synbranchiformes, Mugiliformes, Scorpaeniformes, Perciformes (including all percoid families), Pleuronectiformes, and Tetraodontiformes. The Beryciformes resolve as the sister group of these orders. The results of this study provide a working hypothesis for the evolutionary relationships of the major groups of perciform fishes that could enable many comparative biological studies of this most speciose group of vertebrates.