Genetic diversity of mountain suckers, Catostomus (Pantosteus) platyrhyncus

Authors: Nina J. Laitinen, Dennis K. Shiozawa, Peter J. Unmack, Mark C. Belk

Year: 2009 (xli)

Abstract

Mitochondrial DNA, cytochrome b and ATPase, examined from mountain suckers, Catostomus platyrhyncus; bluehead suckers, C. discobulus; and desert suckers, C. clarkii indicate that the subgenus Pantosteus is more genetically diverse than previously assumed. Mountain suckers in the northern Bonneville Basin were genetically very distinct from mountain suckers in the southern region of the basin. Furthermore, mountain suckers from the Lahontan Basin of Nevada were basal to Bonneville Basin mountain suckers, bluehead suckers, and desert suckers, suggesting that the subgenus is polyphyletic. Bluehead suckers were most closely related to the desert sucker and formed two distinct clades, one in the upper Snake River/ Bonneville Basin and the other in the Colorado River Basin. By examining mountain sucker and bluehead sucker DNA from the Colorado River, Bonneville, Lahontan and Upper Snake River basins as well as desert sucker from the lower Colorado, I also hope to gain insight into the phylogeographic history of the mountain suckers. Given the strong separation of mountain suckers in the Bonneville Basin, morphological characters are also being examined to help elucidate taxonomic boundaries between the two clades.