Origin and Phylogenetic Interrelationships of Teleosts

The origin and the phylogenetic interrelationships of teleosts have been controversial subjects ever since Greenwood, P. H., Rosen, D. E., Weitzman, S. H. and Myers, G. S. in 1966 presented a revision of teleost phylogeny. Different taxa (Amia, Lepisosteus, Amia + Lepisosteus, Pycnodontiformes, Dapedium, Pachycormiformes, and others) have been proposed as the sister group of teleosts. Tremendous advances have occurred in our knowledge of Neopterygii, basal to teleosts, and in their major component the teleosts over the past 40 years. Many new key fossils have been studied, and many extant teleost clades have been traced back to the Jurassic in detailed studies by Gloria Arratia in 1987, 1996, and 2000. In addition to new fossils, a large number of new morphological and molecular characters have been incorporated in recent phylogenetic analyses, adding to our arsenal of approaches. This book gives a modern view of these approaches. It includes a compilation of synapomorphies of numerous teleostean taxa with a new proposal of their classification, a proposal that pycnodonts are the fossil sister group of teleosts, a phylogeny based on mitochondrial genome sequences, separate analyses of basal teleostean taxa (Osteoglossomorpha, Clupeiformes, Gonorynchiformes, Cypriniformes, Characiformes, Siluriformes, Salmoniformes, Esociformes) and the euteleostean Aulopiformes, karyological studies of Cyprinodontidae, and morphological analyses of the posterior part of the neurocranium. A biography of Gloria Arratia is also presented. The book represents contributions to the symposium Origin and phylogenetic interrelationships of teleosts sponsored by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) and organized by the three editors of this volume and held at the Societys annual meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, on 14 July 2007. At the same meeting, Gloria Arratia was honored with the Robert H. Gibbs, Jr. Memorial Award, 2007, for her outstanding contributions to systematic ichthyology. The volume presents the current state of phylogenetic knowledge of the origin of teleosts and the interrelationships of teleost groups, both key issues in fish systematics, based on both morphological (of extant and fossil taxa) and molecular evidence. The many contributors to the volume present and evaluate progress in studying both characters and taxa and in establishing databases (morphological and molecular) that will be of use in future.