I. A. Chereshnev, O. A. Radchenko, A. V. Petrovskaya - Relationships and position of the taxa of the subfamily Xiphisterinae in the system of the suborder Zoarcoidei (Perciformes)

BIOLOGIYA MORYA, 2013, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 115-125

Relationships and position of the taxa of the subfamily Xiphisterinae in the system of the suborder Zoarcoidei (Perciformes)

Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Far East Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Magadan 685000

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Analysis of the nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA genes was used to examine the relationships and position of the subfamily Xiphisterinae in the system of the suborder Zoarcoidei. This study showed genetic heterogeneity of Xiphisterinae and the propriety of its division into two subfamilies: Xiphisterinae with the genera Xiphister and Phytichthys and Cebidichthyinae with the genera Cebidichthys, Dictyosoma, Esselenichthys, and Nivchia. The genetic differences between the two subfamilies were not less, but in some cases even greater than the differences between families within the suborder; therefore, they should be raised to the rank of families Xiphisteridae and Cebidichthyidae and classified not within the superfamily Stichaeoidae, but rather as independent taxa of the suborder Zoarcoidei.

Key words: suborder Zoarcoidei, subfamily Xiphisterinae, mitochondrial DNA, COI, cytochrome b, 16S rRNA, nuclear DNA, RNF213 gene, genetic and morphological divergence, taxonomic structure, status in Zoarcoidei system.