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Vol. 45 No. 3, 2006
Evidence of Host Specificity and Congruence between
Phylogenies of Bitterling and Freshwater Mussels
Huan-Zhang
Liu1,*, Yu-Rong Zhu1, Carl Smith2, and
Martin Reichard2,3
1Institute
of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
2Department of Biology, University of Leicester,
University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
3Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences
of the Czech Republic, Kv tná 8, 603 65 Brno, Czech Republic
Huan-Zhang
Liu, Yu-Rong Zhu, Carl Smith, and Martin Reichard (2006) Bitterling
(Cyprinidae: Acheilognathinae) are freshwater fishes with a unique
spawning relationship with freshwater mussels on whose gills they lay
their eggs. During the breeding season of bitterling fishes, we
collected 843 mussels belonging to 16 species from Lake Qinglan,
central China and examined their gill chambers for the presence of
bitterling larvae. Three species of bitterling larvae were identified; Acheilognathus tonkinensis, Ach. cf. meridianus, and Ach. barbatulus, in 3 species of
mussel: Unio douglasiae, Lamprotula caveata, and L. tortuosa, suggesting host
specialization. Using our own and other published data, we compared the
respective phylogenies of bitterling and mussels, but failed to show
clear congruence. However, broad specializations are evident, with Acheilognathus and Tanakia showing preferences for
mussels with a relatively simple gill structure (Ableminae), and Rhodeus spp. showing preferences
for mussels of the Anodontinae and Unioninae, which have more-complex
gill structures.
Key words: Bitterling,
Host specificity, Coevolution, Phylogeny.
*Correspondence: Tel: 86-27-68780776. Fax: 86-27-68780132.
E-mail: hzliu@ihb.ac.cn
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