Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Hippocampus queenslandicus Horne, 2001 - A new seahorse species or yet another synonym?
Australian Journal of Zoology, Volume 55, No. 3, Year 2007
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
During the past six years, 15 new seahorse species (Syngnathidae: Hippocampus) have been described on the basis of morphological characters. This approach is known to be problematic, and most species names in Hippocampus are now considered to be synonyms. Genetic methods have great potential to resolve the confused taxonomy of the genus, but none have yet been incorporated into species descriptions. In the present study, mitochondrial control region and cytochrome b DNA sequences, as well as morphological data from the recently described Queensland seahorse, Hippocampus queenslandicus Horne, 2001, were compared with corresponding data from closely related seahorse species to determine whether there is strong support for distinction of this taxon. The haplotypes of H. queenslandicus were nested among haplotypes belonging to two of the three major Southeast Asian lineages of H. spinosissimus Weber, 1913. Although incomplete lineage sorting characteristic of very recently diverged species cannot be ruled out, the genetic results suggest that H. queenslandicus is paraphyletic. Morphometric analysis further fails to provide strong support for the species status of H. queenslandicus. We conclude that support for the distinctness of H. queenslandicus is weak, and indicate that it is a synonym of H. spinosissimus. The taxonomic validity of other recently described seahorse species should be similarly scrutinised using combined genetic and detailed morphological methods. © CSIRO 2007.
Authors & Co-Authors
Teske, Peter R.
South Africa, Grahamstown
Rhodes University
Lourie, Sara A.
Canada, Montreal
Université Mcgill
Matthee, Conrad A.
South Africa, Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch University
Green, David M.
Canada, Montreal
Université Mcgill
Statistics
Citations: 12
Authors: 4
Affiliations: 3
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1071/ZO07021
ISSN:
0004959X
Research Areas
Genetics And Genomics