Evolution of Afrotropical freshwater crab lineages obscured by morphological convergence

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Savel R DanielsKeith A Crandall

Abstract

We use sequence data derived from six DNA gene loci to examine evolutionary and biogeographic affinities among all freshwater crab families. With an emphasis on the Afrotropical fauna that includes Africa, Madagascar, and the Seychelles, we test the proposed Gondwanan cladogenesis of the group. Phylogenetic results demonstrate that contemporary distribution patterns of freshwater crab lineages are incongruent with the expected area cladogram of continental fragmentation. Instead, our phylogenetic estimate and divergence time estimation indicate a post-Gondwanan, early Cretaceous cladogenesis for freshwater crabs implying that the acquisition of a freshwater lifestyle was achieved more recently. A dispersal hypothesis as opposed to vicariance appears to best explain the contemporary distribution pattern of this group. However, our results do not explicitly disprove a Gondwanan origin for the Afrotropical freshwater crabs. Alarmingly, these results suggest that most of the currently recognized freshwater crab families are unreliable taxonomic groupings since virtually no Afrotropical freshwater crab families formed monophyletic units thus obscuring inferred biogeographic relationships. Convergence in characters associated with th...Continue Reading

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Citations

Feb 13, 2014·Molecular Biology and Evolution·Ling Ming TsangKa Hou Chu
Feb 4, 2012·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·Devin D Bloom, N R Lovejoy
Aug 16, 2012·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Günter Vogt
Dec 29, 2019·Scientific Reports·Ninon RobinXavier Valentin
May 17, 2013·Journal of Integrative Plant Biology·Syed Shujait AliYan Yu
Jan 8, 2021·International Journal of Biological Macromolecules·Qi WangZhengfei Wang

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