Washington University in Saint Louis, Department of Biology, Box 1137, One Brookings Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63130, USA.
Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2010 Nov;57(2):829-35. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2010.07.013. Epub 2010 Jul 30.
Moray eels (Muraenidae) are apex predators on coral reefs around the world, but they are not well studied because their cryptic habitats and occasionally aggressive behaviors make them difficult to collect. We provide a molecular phylogeny of moray eels including 44 species representing two subfamilies, eight genera, and all tropical ocean basins. Phylogenetic relationships among these taxa are estimated from portions of mitochondrial loci cytochrome b (632 bp) and cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (596 bp), and portions of the nuclear loci RAG-1 (421 bp) and RAG-2 (754 bp). We test four sets of contrasting phylogenetic hypotheses using Bayes Factors, Shimodaira-Hasegawa tests, and Templeton tests. First, our results support the subfamily-level taxonomic distinction between true morays (Muraeninae) and snakemorays (Uropterygiinae), statistically rejecting hypotheses of non-monophyly for each subfamily. Second, we reject a monophyletic grouping of the genera Gymnomuraena and Echidna, which share a durophagous (shell-crushing) cranial morphology and dentition, indicating that the durophagous characters are not homologous. Third, we demonstrate that durophagous feeding habits and associated morphological characters have evolved in parallel in an ancestor of Gymnomuraena and at least three additional times within the genus Echidna. Finally, the tree topology indicates multiple invasions of the Atlantic from the Indo-Pacific, one of these occurring immediately prior to formation of the Isthmus of Panama approximately 2.8 MYA (million years ago) and one or two others occurring in the early to mid Miocene. Cladogenesis occurring within the Atlantic during the mid Miocene and Pliocene also contributed to moray species diversity. These data include a pair of sister species separated by the Isthmus of Panama, allowing a time-calibrated tree with an estimated crown age for Muraenidae at between 41 and 60 MYA, consistent with fossil evidence. Most lineage accumulation within morays occurred from the late Oligocene (24-27 MYA) through the Miocene (5-23 MYA) to the late Pliocene (∼ 2.5 MYA).
海鳝（海鳝科）是世界各地珊瑚礁的顶级掠食者，但它们的研究并不充分，因为它们的隐匿栖息地和偶尔的攻击性行为使得它们难以收集。我们提供了一个包括 44 种海鳝的分子系统发育，代表两个亚科、八个属和所有热带海洋盆地。这些分类群之间的系统发育关系是根据线粒体基因座细胞色素 b（632 bp）和细胞色素氧化酶亚基 1（596 bp）的部分以及核基因座 RAG-1（421 bp）和 RAG-2（754 bp）的部分来估计的。我们使用贝叶斯因子、岛田-长谷川检验和坦普尔顿检验来检验四个具有对比性的系统发育假说。首先，我们的结果支持真海鳝（海鳝亚科）和蛇鳗（蛇鳗亚科）的亚科级分类学区别，从统计学上拒绝了每个亚科非单系的假说。其次，我们拒绝了 Gymnomuraena 和 Echidna 这两个属的单系分组，它们具有硬骨食性（粉碎贝壳）的颅形态和牙齿，表明硬骨食性特征不是同源的。第三，我们证明了 Gymnomuraena 的一个祖先和至少三个额外的 Echidna 属中，硬骨食性的摄食习性和相关的形态特征是平行进化的。最后，树拓扑表明，大西洋从印度洋-太平洋多次入侵，其中一次发生在大约 2800 万年前巴拿马地峡形成之前，另外一到两次发生在中新世早期到中期。中新世和上新世期间在大西洋内部发生的分支也促成了海鳝物种的多样性。这些数据包括一对被巴拿马地峡隔开的姐妹种，允许对海鳝科进行时间校准的树，估计其冠年龄在 41 到 60 百万年之间，与化石证据一致。海鳝的大多数谱系积累发生在晚渐新世（24-27 百万年前）到中新世（5-23 百万年前）到上新世晚期（约 250 万年前）。
