KIDD, M.R.; KOCHER, T.D.; Hubbard Center for Genome Studies, University of New Hampshire: The Evolution of Male Bower Form Within Three Genera of Lake Malawi Cichlids

The 500-1000 cichlid species endemic to Lake Malawi constitute one of the most rapid and extensive adaptive radiations of vertebrates known. Unfortunately, the phylogenetic analysis necessary to understand the mechanisms driving this extraordinary taxonomic diversification has been confounded by the lack of appropriate morphological characters and the exceptional rate of speciation, which has allowed ancestral molecular polymorphisms to persist within species. To overcome this problem we used Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP), a technique for scoring thousands of independent restriction sites across the entire genome to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationship among closely related species. We scored more than 4,000 restriction fragments (over 3,500 polymorphic fragments) to study the evolution of male bower shape within the sand-dwelling genera Lethrinops, Copadichromis, and Protomelas. This phylogeny indicates a pattern of intrageneric divergence and intergeneric convergence of male bower form consistent with the �three stage� speciation model proposed for the Lake Malawi rock-dwelling cichlids. Sympatric populations with similar trophic morphologies, but which differ in male bower form were found to be distinct species. This result suggests that the species richness of the sand-dweller lineage may be vastly underestimated. A new web-based African Cichlid AFLP Database is presented, which will archive and compare complex restriction fingerprints from a large number of biological samples and facilitate worldwide collaboration on African cichlid evolution. Databased fingerprint profiles can be stored, downloaded, binned, and converted into comparative binary matrices, which can be used for studies in phylogenetics, population genetics, biodiversity and conservation.