Phylogeography of Diptychus maculatus (Cyprinidae) endemic to the northern margin of the QTP and Tien Shan region

Abstract

BackgroundPhylogeography and historical demography of the cyprinid fish Diptychus maculatus (subfamily Schizothoracinae) are evaluated across three river systems in the Northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and Tien Shan range: the Indus River, Tarim River and Ili River.ResultsResults from both mtDNA (16S rRNA, Cyt b and D-loop) and nucDNA (RAG-2) resolved four reciprocally monophyletic clades, representing populations from Indus River, South Tarim River, North Tarim River and Ili River, respectively. The divergence times was estimated to be 1.5–2.5 Mya. It is consistent with the hypothesis that the split of four clades is the consequence of vicariance resulting from both the intensive uplift of QTP and Tien Shan as well as the resultant expansion of the Taklimakan Desert. Several lines of evidences indicate dynamic demographic histories for the populations, with late Pleistocene and Holocene population bottlenecks and expansions except the Indus River.ConclusionsOur results clearly depicted the phylogenetic relationship of D. maculatus from Indus River, Tarim River and Ili River. The analyses implicated the relationship among the distribution of D. maculatus, paleo-drainages and geographic events, and implied the existence of the South Tarim River in history.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0756-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Phylogeography of Schizopygopsis stoliczkai (Cyprinidae) in Northwest Tibetan Plateau area

“…Similarly, Li et al. showed Diptychus maculatus that distributed closely to S. stoliczkai also underwent the population expansion at about 0.025 Mya (Li et al., 2016), which was in good line with our results. Therefore, we speculated that the population expansion of S. stoliczkai was possibly benefited from the humid and warm climate during the interglacial period (Yang & Scuderi, 2010).…”

“…Geological movement and climatic fluctuations play an essential role in the phylogeography pattern of many species endemic to the TP (Jin & Liu, 2010; Li et al., 2015, 2016; Liu et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2013; Zhao et al., 2011). In our study, the estimation of the divergence time for S. stoliczkai (Figure 4) was broadly consistent with these studies.…”

“…The population expansion had been reported in other schizothoracine fishes, including Diptychus maculatus (Li et al., 2016), Gymnodiptychus dybowskii (Li et al., 2015), and Schizothorax nukiangensis (Chen, Du, & He, 2015). In the current study, we found the S. stoliczkai experienced the population expansion from 0.05 to 0.025 Mya.…”

“…It has been reported that the current phylogenetic pattern of the extant schizothoracine is driven by the environmental changes and river system transition caused by the uplift of the TP (Guo et al., 2016; Li, Tang, Zhang, & Zhao, 2016; Li et al., 2015; Zhao et al., 2011). Based on the studies of schizothoracine, we hypothesized that the current phylogenetic pattern of S. stoliczkai also reflects the ancient geographic and climate changes in the northwest of the TP (McQueen, Post, & Mills, 1986; Wu & Wu, 1992).…”