SYSTEMATICS OF THE AFRICAN CATFISH FAMILY AMPHILIIDAE (TELEOSTEI: SILURIFORMES) By ALFRED WILLIAM THOMSON A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2013 1 © 2013 Alfred William Thomson 2 To my parents, Alfred S. and Gery L. Thomson, who have always been there for me and have always supported me 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank my advisor, Lawrence M. Page, as well as my committee members, Jonathan W. Armbruster, James D. Austin, Rebecca Kimball, and Colette M. St. Mary. Funding for this study was provided by the All Catfish Species Inventory project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (DEB-0315963). For tissue gifts, specimen loans and access to institutional specimens, I thank Barbara A. Brown and Melanie L. J. Stiassny of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), Jonathan Armbruster and David Werneke of the Auburn University Museum Fish Collection (AUM), Ralf Britz and James Maclain of the Natural History Museum (BMNH), William N. Eschmeyer, Tomio Iwamoto and David Catania of the California Academy of Sciences (CAS), John Friel and John P. Sullivan of the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates (CU), Mary A. Rogers of the Field Museum of Natrual History (FMNH), Tom Geerinckx of Ghent University, Belgium, Andrew Bentley of the University of Kansas Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center (KU), Karsten Hartel of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), Guy Duhamel and Patrice Pruvost of the Muséum National d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN), Jos Snoeks, Mark Hanssens and Miguel Parrent of the Royal Museum of Central Africa (MRAC), Paul Skelton, Sherwyn C. Mack and Roger Bills of the South African Institute of Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), Ray Schmidt of Tulane University (TU), Moritz Muschick and Walter Salzburger of Universität Basel, Switzerland, Robert H. Robins of the Florida Museum of Natural History (UF), Aventino Kasangaki of Uganda, Jeffery T. Williams of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History (USNM), and Dirk Neumann of the Zoologische Staatssammlung München (ZSM). 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 9 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ 11 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 16 2 MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY OF THE AFRICAN CATFISH FAMILY AMPHILIIDAE (TELEOSTEI: SILURIFORMES). .................................................... 19 Background ............................................................................................................. 19 Material and Methods ............................................................................................. 21 Acquisition of Specimens ................................................................................. 21 DNA Extraction, PCR amplification, and Sequencing ....................................... 22 Gene Tree Reconstruction ............................................................................... 23 Results .................................................................................................................... 24 Characteristics of the Sequence Data and Models of Sequence Evolution ...... 24 Phylogenetic Relationships: cyt b ..................................................................... 26 Phylogenetic Relationships: Rag 2 ................................................................... 27 Phylogenetic Relationships: S7 Intron 1 ........................................................... 28 Phylogenetic relationships: cyt b + Rag 2 + S7 Intron 1 ................................... 29 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 29 3 MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY OF THE AFRICAN CATFISH GENUS AMPHILIUS (SILURIFORMES: AMPHILIIDAE). ......................................................................... 46 Background ............................................................................................................. 46 Material and Methods ............................................................................................. 47 Results .................................................................................................................... 48 Characteristics of the Sequence Data and Models of Sequence Evolution ...... 48 Phylogenetic Relationships: cyt b ..................................................................... 49 Phylogenetic Relationships: Rag 2 ................................................................... 49 Phylogenetic Relationships: S7 Intron 1 ........................................................... 50 Phylogenetic Relationships: cyt b + Rag 2 + S7 Intron 1 .................................. 51 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 51 Taxonomic Descriptions .......................................................................................... 57 Amphilius Günther, 1864 .................................................................................. 57 Diagnosis (based, in part, on Roberts, 2003 and Skelton, 2007b) ............. 57 Species included ........................................................................................ 57 5 Distribution ................................................................................................. 58 Notes ......................................................................................................... 58 Anoplopterus Pfeffer, 1889 ............................................................................... 58 Diagnosis (based, in part, on Roberts, 2003 and Skelton, 2007b) ............. 58 Species included ........................................................................................ 59 Distribution ................................................................................................. 59 Notes ......................................................................................................... 59 4 TAXONOMY OF THE AFRICAN CATFISH GENUS ANOPLOPTERUS (SILURIFORMES: AMPHILIIDAE) WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW SPECIES AND REDESCRIPTIONS OF ANOPLOPTERUS URANOSCOPUS, CHIMARRHOGLANIS LEROYI, AMPHILIUS BREVIDORSALIS, AMPHILIUS HARGERI AND AMPHILIUS CUBANGOENSIS. .................................................... 79 Background ............................................................................................................. 79 Material and Methods ............................................................................................. 80 Taxonomic Descriptions .......................................................................................... 82 Anoplopterus uranoscopus Pfeffer, 1889 (Figure 4-2; Table 4-1) ..................... 82 Material Examined ..................................................................................... 82 Diagnosis ................................................................................................... 83 Description ................................................................................................. 84 Coloration................................................................................................... 86 Distribution ................................................................................................. 86 Anoplopterus leroyi (Vaillant, 1897) (Figure 4-4; Table 4-4) ............................. 86 Material Examined ..................................................................................... 87 Diagnosis ................................................................................................... 87 Description ................................................................................................. 89 Coloration................................................................................................... 91 Distribution ................................................................................................. 91 Anoplopterus hargeri (Boulenger, 1907) (Figure 4-5; Table 4-5) ...................... 91 Material examined ...................................................................................... 91 Diagnosis ................................................................................................... 92 Description ................................................................................................. 93 Coloration................................................................................................... 95 Distribution ................................................................................................. 95 Anoplopterus brevidorsalis (Pellegrin, 1919) (Figure 4-7; Table 4-6) ............... 96 Material examined ...................................................................................... 96 Diagnosis ................................................................................................... 97 Description ................................................................................................