Morphologic and genetic variation within a relict Andean catfish, Hatcheria macraei, and its relationship with Trichomycterus areolatus and Bullockia maldonadoi (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae)

BECKER, LA; ; ; ; ; ; BATTINI, MA; BARRIGA, JP; AZPELICUETA, MM; JOHNSON, JB; CUSSAC, VE

ANAIS DA ACADEMIA BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIAS.

ACAD BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIAS

Lugar: Rio de Janeiro; Año: 2023 vol. 95 p. 1 - 24

0001-3765

TheSouth American siluriform fishes arefoundprimarily in the Neotropical region, north and east of the ColoradoRiver of Argentina, with a few relict species distributed southwardand westward on both sides of the Andes Mountains. Three of these,the closely related trichomycterids Hatcheriamacraei,Trichomycterusareolatusand Bullockiamaldonadoi,have been subject to historical taxonomic and nomenclaturalarrangements. Here, we amplify a 652-bp fragment of COImtDNA from 55 H.macraei individualsand use publicly available CytbmtDNA sequences of the three taxa to assess their relationship,genetic variation and haplotype distribution in relation tohydrographic basins. In addition, we extend a recent morphometricstudy on H.macraeiby analyzing body shape in 447 individuals collected from 24populations across their entire cis-Andeandistribution. We identified some lineages previously assigned to T.areolatusthat show a closer relationship to either B.maldonadoior H.macraei,revealingnewboundaries to their currently known trans-Andeandistribution.We found a great morphologic variation among H.macraeipopulations anda high genetic variation in H.macraei,T.areolatusand B.maldonadoi associatedwith river basins. We highlight furtherintegrative studies are needed to enhance our knowledge of thesouthern Andean trichomycterid diversity.