Pampus is a widespread species of fish in the western Pacific and Indian Oceans that has significant commercial worth. Its evolutionary history and phylogenetics are still poorly understood, and details on its intraspecific taxonomy are debatable, despite some morphological and molecular research. Here, we analyzed this species using skeletal structure data as well as nuclear (S7 gene) and mitochondrial genetic information (COI, D-loop and mitogenomes). We found that the genetic distance between P. argenteus and P. echinogaster was much smaller than that between other Pampus species, and both maximum likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic trees yielded almost identical tree topologies. An additional and adjacent M repeat was found in the downstream region of the IQM gene cluster of P. argenteus and P. echinogaster, and the trnL2 gene of P. minor was translocated. The genus Pampus experienced early rapid radiation during the Palaeocene with major lineages diversifying within a relatively narrow timescale. Additionally, three different methods were conducted to distinguish the genus Pampus species, proving that P. argenteus and P. echinogaster are the same species, and P. liuorum is speculated to be a valid species. Overall, our study provides new insights not only into the evolutionary history of Pampus but its intraspecific taxonomy as well.
Keywords: Pampus; evolutionary history; mitogenome; osteology; population genetics; species delimitation.