Updates to the phylogeny and systematics of the African lampeye schooling cyprinodonts (Cyprinodontiformes: Aplocheilichthyinae)

Huber J.H.

Published date: February 1999
Volume: 23
Number: 1
Pagination: 053-077
Publisher: Société Française d'Ichtyologie
doi: https://doi.org/10.26028/cybium/1999-231-004
Abstract

Interrelationships of 19 predefined groups, belonging to the African Aplocheilichthyin genera, are proposed after the phylogenetic analysis of 74 external characters using PAUP 3.1.1. software. The resulting consensus tree is congruent with previous, not all, analyses and with the biogeographical distribution. The genus Micropanchax sensu Huber, 1981 is reported to be polyphyletic. The group of deep-bodied species from the Guinean Dorsale appears to be related to Procatopus and Plataplochilus and is conservatively described as a subgenus of the former under the name Rhexipanchax. The monophyly of the coastal forms is proposed, with Poropanchax rehabilitated as a full genus and Congopanchax becoming its subgenus from the Congo Basin. Micropanchax is restricted to the slender Sahelian forms, whereas the systematics of the groups of central and eastern Africa remain unclear, except for the two pelagic monotypic genera Lamprichthys and Laciris, which are basal.

Keywords: Africa - Aplocheilichthyinae - Phylogeny - Poeciliidae - Taxinomy
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