Meeting Abstract
Loricariidae is the most species-rich family in the order of Siluriformes, with nearly 1000 species in 100 genera. Commonly known as the suckermouth armored catfishes, the Neotropical family is known for their unique traits that include ossified dermal plates that cover the body, integumentary teeth known as odontodes on the plates and fin spines, and a ventral oral disk used in feeding and to adhere to objects in their habitats. Found throughout Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical to subtropical South America, loricariids can be found in all types of freshwater habitats, from rapid Andean rivers to quiet estuaries. The loss of three cranial biomechanical linkages has been correlated with an increase in morphological diversity resulting in an array of shapes that vary from dorsoventrally flattened to deep bodied. Comparisons of morphological and molecular phylogenetic trees indicate that there is rampant morphological convergence which is explored in this study through the analysis of body shape using 3D geometric morphometric analyses in a phylogenomic and ecological context. In the R package stereomorph, 33 landmarks that represent key anatomical features were rendered into three-dimensional space for 46 species across the family. Shape variation was summarized through a principal component analysis and the most recent genomic phylogeny was trimmed and overlaid onto the PCA. To test the correlation between ecological traits and shape, a phylogenetic ANOVA, Procrustes ANOVA, and SURFACE analysis were performed. Lastly, ecological ancestral states were inferred and mapped to the morphospace.
