ZS 2020 Vol. 59-09

Vol. 59, 2020

(update: 2020.03.06; 04.06)

Journey to the West: Trans-Pacific Historical Biogeography of Fringehead Blennies in the Genus Neoclinus (Teleostei: Blenniiformes)

Watcharapong Hongjamrassilp¹, Atsunobu Murase^2,3, Ryohei Miki^3,4, and Philip A. Hastings^5,*

^{doi:10.6620/ZS.2020.59-09}

¹Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92093, USA; Current address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, 90095-7246, USA. E-mail: watcharapong.hg@gmail.com (Hongjamrassilp)
²Nobeoka Marine Science Station, Field Science Center, University of Miyazaki, 376-6 Akamizu, Nobeoka, Miyazaki 889-0517, Japan. E-mail: nobi@cc.miyazaki-u.ac.jp
³Department of Marine Biology and Environmental Sciences Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen-kibanadai-nishi, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan. E-mail: ad13007@student.miyazaki-u.ac.jp
⁴Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Agriculture and Engineering, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen14 kibanadai-nishi, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan
⁵Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92093, USA. *Correspondence: Tel: 858-822-2913. E-mail: phastings@ucsd.edu (Hastings)

Received 12 December 2019 / Accepted 22 January 2020
Communicated by Benny K.K. Chan

Several temperate marine taxa of the northern hemisphere follow a trans-Pacific biogeographic track with representatives on either side of the intervening boreal waters. Shelter-dwelling blenniiform fishes of the genus Neoclinus exhibit this trans-Pacific distribution pattern with three species in the eastern North Pacific and eight species in the western North Pacific. We reconstructed the phylogeny of the Neocliniini (Neoclinus and the monotypic Mccoskerichthys) using six genetic markers: four mitochondrial genes (COI, cytochrome b, 12S and 16S), and two nuclear genes (RAG-1, TMO-4C4). Ancestral state reconstruction and molecular clock dating were used to explore hypothetical ancestral distributions and area relationships, and to estimate divergent times within this group. The monophyly of the genus Neoclinus, and the reciprocal monophyly of the eastern Pacific and western Pacific lineages were supported. Available evidence, including the eastern Pacific and western Atlantic occurrence of a New World clade of blennioid fishes that includes this lineage, supports the origin of the Neocliniini in the eastern Pacific with a single divergence event to the west across the North Pacific by the ancestor of the western Pacific clade. Estimated divergence time of the eastern and western Pacific clades of Neoclinus was 24.14 million year ago, which falls during the Oligocene epoch. Estimated times of divergence in other trans-Pacific lineages of marine fishes vary widely, from recent Pleistocene events to as early as 34 mya.

Key words: Mccoskerichthys, North Pacific, Eastern North Pacific, Western North Pacific, Phylogeny.

Citation: Hongjamrassilp W, Murase A, Miki R, Hastings PA. 2020. Journey to the west: trans-Pacific historical biogeography of fringehead blennies of the genus Neoclinus (Teleostei: Blenniiformes). Zool Stud 59:09. doi:10.6620/ZS.2020.59-09.