The phylogenetic position of Turkish populations within the European Bitterling, Rhodeus amarus (Osteichthyes: Cyprinidae)

Abstract

The partial sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (1047 bp) was analysed in order to clarify the phylogenetic position of Turkish populations within the European Bitterling, Rhodeus amarus. 17 haplotypes were identified from the 57 individuals representing 4 different localities in Thrace Region, the south Marmara basin and the north-central Black Sea coast of Anatolia. Median-joining network and phylogenetic trees (MP, ML, and BI) revealed that Turkish haplotypes constitute a monophyletic unit containing three main haplogroups and accumulated with eastern lineages of the European Bitterling. the results presented in this study suggest that Anatolian haplotypes should be exhaustively evaluated at the lineage level and related to the three separate Anatolian groups identified within the European Bitterling, which probably originated in the Middle Pleistocene.