Ancient genetic divergence in bumblebee catfish of the genus Pseudopimelodus (Pseudopimelodidae: Siluriformes) from northwestern South America

José D Rangel-Medrano; Armando Ortega-Lara; Edna J Márquez

doi:10.7717/peerj.9028

Ancient genetic divergence in bumblebee catfish of the genus Pseudopimelodus (Pseudopimelodidae: Siluriformes) from northwestern South America

PeerJ. 2020 May 29:8:e9028. doi: 10.7717/peerj.9028. eCollection 2020.

Authors

José D Rangel-Medrano¹, Armando Ortega-Lara^{2

3}, Edna J Márquez¹

Affiliations

¹ Facultad de Ciencias, Escuela de Biociencias, Laboratorio de Biología Molecular y Celular, Universidad Nacional de Colombia-Sede Medellín, Medellín, Colombia.
² Grupo de Investigación en Peces Neotropicales, Fundación para la Investigación y el Desarrollo Sostenible (FUNINDES), Cali, Colombia.
³ Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias-Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia.

Abstract

Pseudopimelodus is a Neotropical genus of bumblebee catfish, composed of four valid species occurring in both trans- and cis-Andean rivers of South America. The orogeny of the Andes has led to diversification in the genus Pseudopimelodus in Colombia. This study analyzed partial sequences of mitochondrial cox1 and nuclear rag2 genes to test the hypothesis that the species, nominally recognized as P. schultzi and P. bufonius in Colombia, correspond to more than two different evolutionary lineages. Results indicate high levels of genetic divergence among individuals of nominal P. schultzi and P. bufonius, from trans- and cis-Andean basins in Colombia. In addition, five divergent lineages of Pseudopimelodus were confidently delimited by using a single-locus species-discovery approach and confirmed by species tree analyses. Additionally, molecular-clock dating showed that most diversification processes in Pseudopimelodus took place during the Miocene, when Andean tectonic evolution was occurring in northwestern South America. The present study provides, for the first time, phylogeographic insight into this Neotropical genus.

Keywords: Andean orogeny; Antioqueño plateau; Cis-andean species; Colombia; Garzón massif; Phylogeography; Pseudopimelodus bufonius; Pseudopimelodus schultzi; Trans-andean species; Vaupes arch.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the scientific cooperation agreement between Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Integral S.A., on 19th September 2013 and Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Medellín and Empresas Públicas de Medellín, Grant CT-2013-002443 “Variación genotípica y fenotípica de poblaciones de especies reófilas presentes en el área de influencia del proyecto hidroeléctrico Ituango”, Grant CT-2019-000661 “Variabilidad genética de un banco de peces de los sectores medio y bajo del río Cauca”. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analyses, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.