Affiliation:
1. Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho Botucatu São Paulo Brazil
2. Department of Ichthyology Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Philadelphia Pennsylvania USA
3. Escola Normal Superior Universidade Do Estado Do Amazonas Manaus Amazonas Brazil
4. Department of Ichthyology American Museum of Natural History New York New York USA
5. Universidade Santo Amaro São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
Abstract
AbstractPimelodidae is a family of large‐sized catfishes consisting of 116 valid species divided into 30 genera distributed in the Neotropical region. Despite recent advancements in understanding the pimelodid phylogeny, several internal relationships have remained unclear and have received limited support from various phylogenetic analyses. We provide a new genomic dataset comprising 55 species representing 25 genera of Pimelodidae and related siluriform families Aspredinidae, Auchenipteridae, Cetopsidae, Doradidae, Diplomystidae, Heptapteridae, Loricariidae, and Pseudopimelodidae. Our phylogenetic analyses support the monophyly of Pimelodidae, as well as the existence of four major lineages: the Steindachneridion clade, the Leiarius + Phractocephalus clade, and two major subclades herein classified as Sorubiminae and Pimelodinae. Our topology resolves Phractocephalus sister to Leiarius differing from previous phylogenies. In Sorubiminae, Zungaro is sister to two large clades: one with Sorubim, Sorubimichthys, and Pseudoplatystoma, and the other with Hemisorubim, Platysilurus, Platystomatichthys, Brachyplatystoma, and Hypophthalmus. In Pimelodinae, we found the Pimelodus ornatus clade, the calophysines, and the clade with Exallodontus, Propimelodus, and Pimelodus altissimus closer to the Pimelodus group. Parapimelodus, Duopalatinus, Iheringichthys, and Bergiaria are included within the Pimelodus group. The Pimelodus group contains four main components: (1) Duopalatinus peruanus, (2) the trans‐Andean Pimelodus grosskopfii; (3) Pimelodus maculatus clade with species from the Brazilian Shield in southeastern Brazil; and (4) Pimelodus blochii clade composed by species from the Amazon, Orinoco, Paraná‐Paraguay, Parnaíba, São Francisco and coastal drainages of the Guiana Shield. The P. maculatus clade is composed by phenotypically diverse species, and the P. blochii clade houses species morphologically similar that appear nested within the widely distributed P. blochii.