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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 61(9)

Phylogenetics and revised taxonomy of the Australian freshwater cod genus, Maccullochella (Percichthyidae)

Catherine J. Nock A B D , Martin S. Elphinstone A B , Stuart J. Rowland C and Peter R. Baverstock A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Centre for Animal Conservation Genetics, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157,Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia.

B Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157,Lismore, NSW 2480, Australia.

C NSW Department of Primary Industries, Grafton Aquaculture Centre, PMB 2,Grafton, NSW 2460, Australia.

D Corresponding author. Email: cathy.nock@scu.edu.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 61(9) 980-991 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF09145
Submitted: 18 June 2009  Accepted: 10 February 2010   Published: 23 September 2010

Abstract

Determining the phylogenetic and taxonomic relationships among allopatric populations can be difficult, especially when divergence is recent and morphology is conserved. We used mitochondrial sequence data from the control region and three protein-coding genes (1253 bp in total) and genotypes determined at 13 microsatellite loci to examine the evolutionary relationships among Australia’s largest freshwater fish, the Murray cod, Maccullochella peelii peelii, from the inland Murray–Darling Basin, and its allopatric sister taxa from coastal drainages, the eastern freshwater cod, M. ikei, and Mary River cod, M. peelii mariensis. Phylogenetic analyses provided strong support for taxon-specific clades, with a clade containing both of the eastern taxa reciprocally monophyletic to M. peelii peelii, suggesting a more recent common ancestry between M. ikei and M. peelii mariensis than between the M. peelii subspecies. This finding conflicts with the existing taxonomy and suggests that ancestral Maccullochella crossed the Great Dividing Range in the Pleistocene and subsequently diverged in eastern coastal drainages. Evidence from the present study, in combination with previous morphological and allozymatic data, demonstrates that all extant taxa are genetically and morphologically distinct. The taxonomy of Maccullochella is revised, with Mary River cod now recognised as a species, Maccullochella mariensis, a sister species to eastern freshwater cod, M. ikei. As a result of the taxonomic revision, Murray cod is M. peelii.

Additional keywords: allopatry, dispersal, microsatellite DNA, mitochondrial DNA, phylogeography, Pleistocene, vicariance.


Acknowledgements

We thank the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) and the Queensland Departments of Primary Industries and Fisheries for support of this project, and in particular Jenny Ovenden, Gavin Butler, Ian Wooden, Anthony Moore, Meaghan Rourke, Daniela Tikel and Steven Brooks. Sampling was undertaken in accordance with the Australian Code of Practice for the Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes (Permit No. 04/12). Thanks go to James Knight for preparing the map, John Paxton (Australian Museum) for advice on taxonomic revision, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments. This research was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award (C.J.N.) and an Australian Research Council Linkage grant between NSW DPI and Southern Cross University.


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