Phylogeny of major groups of cichlids

The tree is based on a parsimony analysis of 91 characters and 50 terminal taxa using the Hennig86 software with a heuristic search and successive weighting. It is a strict consensus tree of 16 equally parsimonious trees differing slightly in the arrangements of heroine genera. See Kullander (1998) for matrix and list of characters.

The tree serves as a phylogenetic roadstart to the South American Cichlidae, with the following limitations. Three genera do not appear among the terminals, viz., Teleocichla (a cichline), Chaetobranchopsis (an astronotine) and Mazarunia (a crenicarin). Terminal taxa with generic name in single quotes represent groups of species forming unnamed genera. Two genera (Nannacara and Laetacara are represented by two species appearing as terminal taxa, viz. N. anomala and N. adoketa, and L. flavilabris and L. thayeri, respectively.

Subfamily and tribe names are as proposed by Kullander (1998). The classification apparent from the tree is complete for the Neotropical taxa, butOld Worldcichlids are represented by only a few taxa.

Sides & Lydeard (2000), who did not cite Kullander (1998) or other recent work, presented results of a study of combined conservative exons and more variable introns of the nuclear gene X-src in 23 heroine species, six other Neotropical species, five African (including the non existant "Haplochromis chromogynous"), and two outgroup species. The study supports separation of African and neotropical cichlids, but provides ambiquous-only resolution for closely-related taxa, notably within the Neotropical group. Sides & Lydeard's study, however, confirms Martin & Birmingham's (1998) conclusion of distinctness of Caquetaia umbriferum from other Caquetaia species.

References