dulus heteroclitus, and Poecilia latipinna are euryhaline and can live in all three salinity habitats. Recently, two new species of killifishes from the genus Austrolebias (Austrolebias botocudo and Austrolebias nubium) were discovered 1000 meters above sea level in the Araucaria Forest domain in the highlands of southern Brazil (Lanés et al. 2021). Species from the genus Austrolebias and Kryptolebias from group #8 are non-migratory. While it is possible that A. botocudo and A. nubium became landlocked species by migrating to their present location, it could also be possible that these fish were entrapped in their highland environments as the receding waters of the Flood flowed off the South American continent. The species from this cluster belong to the family Rivulidae (killifishes), the fourth most diverse clade of Neotropical fishes. They have a characteristic annual life cycle, diapausing eggs, and delayed embryonic development. Two species of the genus Kryptolebias are self-fertilizing (hermaphroditic), whereas two genera from Cynopeocilini fertilize internally (Loureiro et al. 2018; Costa et al. 2016). Costa (2004) and Hertwig (2008) list 22 synapomorphic traits, mainly of the cranium, that characterize the family Rivulidae, suggesting that this family is discontinuous with all other fish. The genus Austrolebias is an interesting monobaramin within Rivulidae. This baramin was the only one with an insignificant p-value (0.472), and a mean mtDNA sequence similarity of 0.566. These differences could be due to the high rate of base substitutions in their mitochondrial genomes (García et al. 2002). Furthermore, the genomes of Austrolebias species underwent large-scale expansions, and are approximately twice the size of the genomes of most rivulid species. The DNA content of 5.95±0.45 pg, compares to the mean C-value of other rivulids of 2.98 pg (García et al. 2014). This results in larger species diversity (Mank and Avise 2006). Indeed, of the 36 genera within Rivulidae, Austrolebias has the largest number of species (53), according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Taxonomy Database (see Table 2). 7. Elasmobranchii This subclass of Chondrichthyes consists of sharks, rays, skates, and sawfishes, and numbers around 1,150 species, making up around 3.3% of all fish. These fish form an apobaramin in that their skeleton is made up of cartilage, as opposed to bony fish (Osteichthyes). They are characterized by five to seven gill slits behind their head, rigid dorsal fins, and multiple rows of teeth. Their skin is also covered by tough dermal scales called placoid scales. Sharks make up the superorder Selachii, whereas rays, skates, and sawfishes make up the superorder Batoidea. In this study, the mtDNA of 167 species was examined. The results can be seen in Figure 10 and are also available in Supplementary File 7. The heatmap in Figure 10A shows six putative baramins. However, the Silhouette plot shows five optimal clusters in Figure 10B, which indicates possible torsion in the data. The Hopkins clustering statistic is 0.890 which denotes very good clustering. Besides the outlier group, there are five putative holobaramins, each of which has statistically significant p-values. While sharks and rays have different body plans, it might be the case that God created multiple shark and ray baramins, as suggested by Table 2. Number of species in each of the 36 genera in the family Rivulidae. Genus No. species Austrolebias 53 Hypsolebias 39 Anablepsoides 31 Melanorivulus 21 Cynolebias 18 Cynodonichthys 15 Laimosemion 14 Kryptolebias 9 Austrofundulus 8 Cynopoecilus 8 Atlantirivulus 6 Moema 5 Ophthalmolebias 5 Spectrolebias 5 Rachovia 4 Rivulus 4 Simpsonichthys 4 Trigonectes 4 Xenurolebias 4 Campellolebias 3 Leptolebias 3 Nematolebias 3 Notholebias 3 Gnatholebias 2 Maratecoara 2 Neofundulus 2 Papiliolebias 2 Pituna 2 Plesiolebias 2 Pterolebias 2 Aphyolebias 1 Llanolebias 1 Micromoema 1 Millerichthys 1 Renova 1 Terranatos 1 CSERHATI Molecular baraminology of fish 2023 ICC 195
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