Phylogeny and biogeography of the genus Pseudobarbus (Cyprinidae): Shedding light on the drainage history of rivers associated with the Cape Floristic Region
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Abstract
Relationships among the historically isolated lineages of Pseudobarbus were reconstructed
using molecular and morphological data. Contradictions between the molecular and morphological
phylogenies suggest convergent evolution and homoplasy in some morphological characters.
The earliest divergence in Pseudobarbus was between P. quathlambae in Lesotho and
the rest of the genus associated with the Cape Foristic Region in South Africa. A
close relationship between P. phlegethon from the Olifants River system on the west
coast of South Africa and a lineage of P. afer from small river systems in Afrotemperate
Forests on the south coast, can only be explained through previous occurrence and
subsequent extinction of ancestral populations in the Gourits River system. Several
river systems had confluences before reaching lower sea levels, most notably during
the last glacial maximum about 18,000 years ago, explaining closely related populations
across different river systems. Mainly river capture explains shared lineages across
river systems that did not share a common confluence during lower sea levels.