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Molecular and morphological analysis of endangered species Gymnodiptychus integrigymnatus (Teleostei: Cyprinidae)

Environmental Biology of Fishes volume 88, pages 189–199 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Gymnodiptychus integrigymnatus is a critically endangered species endemic to the Gaoligongshan Mountains. It was thought to be only distributed in several headwater-streams of the Longchuanjiang River (west slope of the Gaoligongshan Mountains, belonging to the Irrawaddy River drainage). In recent years, dozens of G. integrigymnatus specimens have been collected in some streams on the east slope of the Gaoligongshan Mountains (the Salween drainage). We performed a morphological and genetic analyses (based on cytochrome b and D-loop) of the newly discovered populations of G. integrigymnatus to determine whether the degree of separation of these populations warrants species status. Our analysis from the cytochrome b gene revealed that nine individuals from the Irrawaddy drainage area and seven individuals from the Salween drainage area each have only one unique haplotype. The genetic distance between the two haplotypes is 1.97%. Our phylogenetic analysis revealed that G. integrigymnatus is closely related to highly specialized schizothoracine fishes. Analysis from the mitochondrial control region revealed that G. integrigymnatus has relatively high genetic diversity (π was 0.00891 and h was 0.8714), and individuals from different river drainages do not share the same haplotypes. The AMOVA results indicated 87.27% genetic variability between the Salween and Irrawaddy populations. Phylogenetic trees show two major geographic groups corresponding to the river systems. We recommend that G. integrigymnatus should be considered as a high priority for protected species status in the Gaoligongshan Mountains National Nature Reserve, and that the area of the Gaoligongshan Mountains National Nature Reserve should be expanded to cover the entire distribution of G. integrigymnatus. Populations of G. integrigymnatus from different river systems should be treated as evolutionarily significant units.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dave Neely, David Catania, William Poly of the California Academy of Sciences, and to Huang Yanfei, Min Rui, and Wu Fei of the Kunming Institute of Zoology (KIZ), The Chinese Academy of Sciences, for their help in collecting and other aspects of this study. We thank Jia Li (KIZ) for her kindly and patient help on the laboratory works. We thank Kevin W. Conway, Saint Louis University, USA, and two anonymous reviews for their critically reviewing the manuscript. This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (30730017), National Science Foundation (USA) (DEB-0103795) and National Basic Research Program of China (2007CB411600).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State key laboratory of genetic resource and evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, 650223, People’s Republic of China

    Jian Yang, Xiaoyong Chen & Junxing Yang

Authors
  1. Jian Yang
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  2. Xiaoyong Chen
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  3. Junxing Yang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiaoyong Chen or Junxing Yang.

Appendices

Appendix 1. Schizothoracinae species (GenBank accession number) of cytochrome b used for phylogenetic analysis

Schizothorax waltoni (AY463518), Schizothorax prenanti (AY954260), Schizothorax wangchiachii (AY463521), Diptychus maculatus (FJ931475), Ptychobarbus kaznakovi (EF533723), Ptychobarbus chungtienensis (AY463507), Ptychobarbus conirostris (AY463509), Ptychobarbus dipogon (AY463510), Gymnodiptychus pachycheilus (DQ491113), Gymnodiptychus pachycheilus (DQ646883), Gymnodiptychus dybowskii (AY463513), Gymnodiptychus dybowskii (EF533724), Gymnodiptychus integrigymnatus (AY463526), Gymnodiptychus integrigymnatus (AY463527), Gymnodiptychus integrigymnatus (FJ534420), Gymnocypris przewalskii (FJ494961), Gymnocypris eckloni (FJ534403), Gymnocypris namensis (DQ309353), Oxygymnocypris stewartii (DQ491114), Schizopygopsis younghusbandi (DQ646895), Schizopygopsis pylzovi (DQ491188), Schizopygopsis thermalis (DQ309367), Chuanchia labiosa (AY608650), Chuanchia labiosa (AY608651), Platypharodon extremus (AY608657), Platypharodon extremus (AY608658), Herzensteinia microcephalus (DQ309357).

Appendix 2. Morphological characters measured in this study

Standard length (SL), head length (HL), caudal-peduncle length (CL), caudal-peduncle depth (CD), snout length (SN), eye diameter (ED), interorbital width (IOW), mouth width (MW), body depth (BD), Head depth (HD), head width (HW), dorsal-fin base length (DL), predorsal length (PDL), prepectoral length (PPL), prepelvic length (PVL), preanal length (PAL), distance between pectoral-fin origin and pelvic-fin origin (POVO), distance between pectoral-fin origin and anal-fin origin (POAO), distance between pelvic-fin origin to anal-fin origin (VOAO), distance between anal-fin origin between base of caudal-peduncle (AOC), length of the second branched dorsal-fin ray (LSBDR), pectoral-fin length (PL), pelvic-fin length (VL), anal-fin length (AL), distance between snout and end of occipital (SNEO), distance between snout and dorsal-fin origin (SNDO), distance between snout to pectoral-fin origin (SNPO), distance between pectoral-fin origin and dorsal-fin origin (PODO), distance between pectoral-fin origin and end of dorsal-fin base (POEDB), distance between pelvic-fin origin and end of occipital (VOEO), distance between pelvic-fin origin and dorsal-fin origin (VODO), distance between pelvic-fin origin and end of dorsal-fin base (VOEDB), distance between anal-fin origin to end of occipital (AOEO), distance between anal-fin origin and dorsal-fin origin (AODO), distance between anal-fin origin and end of dorsal-fin base (AOED), distance between anal-fin origin and dorsal point at the caudal-peduncle (AODC), distance between anal-fin origin and pectoral point at the caudal peduncle (AOPC).

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Yang, J., Chen, X. & Yang, J. Molecular and morphological analysis of endangered species Gymnodiptychus integrigymnatus (Teleostei: Cyprinidae). Environ Biol Fish 88, 189–199 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-010-9629-6

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Keywords

  • Gymnodiptychus integrigymnatus
  • mtDNA
  • PCA
  • Gaoligongshan Mountains
  • Conservation management