Phylogenetic placement of the European sand gobies in Gobionellidae and characterization of gobionellid lineages (Gobiiformes: Gobioidei)

Abstract

The Mediterranean, northeastern Atlantic, and inland freshwaters of Europe and the Ponto-Caspian region host a distinct fauna of gobiiform fishes, including the sand gobies (Pomatoschistus Gill and related genera), all of which have been clas-sified in the most diverse goby group, the family Gobiidae. Recent molecular phylogenetic analyses have suggested that the sand gobies are not gobiids, and are instead part of their sister clade Gobionellidae (Thacker and Roje 2011). Phylo-genetic analysis of Pomatoschistus in the context of both gobiid and gobionellid taxa indicates that Pomatoschistus is part of Gobionellidae, specifically the Mugilogobius lineage. Gobionellidae includes 93 genera, which are arrayed into four lineages (Stenogobius, Mugilogobius, Periophthalmus and Northern Pacific). These lineages exhibit variation in charac-ters of the jaw and suspensorium, including the shapes and relative positions of the palatine, quadrate, and ectopterygoid. The observations of the palatopterygoid complex in Gobionellidae of Harrison (1989) and Larson (2001) are supported and augmented. Gobionellidae generally exhibit suspensoria that are overall more elongated and gracile than those of go-biids: the palatine/ectopterygoid pair features a very short (Periophthalmus lineage) or elongate, pointed palatine (Mugi-logobius, Northern Pacific, and Stenogobius lineages), with a relatively slender ectopterygoid and a short quadrate articulation. In Gobiidae, the palatine extends about halfway along the length of the ectopterygoid, and the ectopterygoid generally features a large, flat articulation with the quadrate. Suspensoria of Pomatoschistus and relatives are similar to those of other taxa in the Mugilogobius lineage. Placement of Pomatoschistus and relatives in Gobionellidae rather than Gobiidae is significant in that it indicates that sand gobies are not closely related to other European gobies, and has impli-cations for any comparative evolutionary or biogeographic studies.

Biogeography of goby lineages (Gobiiformes: Gobioidei): origin, invasions and extinction throughout the Cenozoic

“…S1 in Appendix S2). Phylogenetic relationships recovered here are not significantly different from those shown in Thacker & Roje (), Thacker (, ), or Agorreta et al . ().…”

Molecular phylogeny of Percomorpha resolves Trichonotus as the sister lineage to Gobioidei (Teleostei: Gobiiformes) and confirms the polyphyly of Trachinoidei

“…Molecular phylogenetic analyses of gobioids have confirmed the composition of families in the clade (Agorreta et al, 2013;Tornabene et al, 2013), and have identified several well-supported lineages within the most species-rich families, Gobionellidae and Gobiidae (Thacker and Roje, 2011;Agorreta et al, 2013;Thacker, 2013).…”

Identifying sagittal otoliths of Mediterranean Sea gobies: variability among phylogenetic lineages

“…() placed order Gobiiformes in the supra‐ordinal group Gobiomorpharia. Phylogenetic relationships within Gobioidei are also still not fully resolved and results of some recent studies of the Gobioidei differ from studies of just European lineages (Thacker, , ; Thacker & Roje, ; Agorreta et al, ; Tornabene et al, ).…”