Phylogeny and divergence times of suckers (Cypriniformes: Catostomidae) inferred from Bayesian total-evidence analyses of molecules, morphology, and fossils
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Catostomidae (“suckers”) is a diverse (76 species) and broadly distributed family of Holarctic freshwater fishes with a rich fossil record and a considerable number (∼35%) of threatened and imperiled species. We integrate DNA sequences (three mitochondrial genes, three nuclear genes), morphological data, and fossil information to infer sucker phylogenetic relationships and divergence times using Bayesian “total-evidence” methods, and then test hypotheses about the temporal diversification of the group. Our analyses resolved many nodes within subfamilies and clarified Catostominae relationships to be of the form ((Thoburniini, Moxostomatini), (Erimyzonini, Catostomini)). Patterns of subfamily relationships were incongruent, but mainly supported two placements of the Myxocyprininae; distinguishing these using Bayes factors lent strongest support to a model with Myxocyprininae sister to all remaining sucker lineages. We improved our Bayesian total-evidence dating analysis by excluding problematic characters, using a clock-partitioning scheme identified by Bayesian model selection, and employing a fossilized birth-death tree prior accommodating morphological data and fossils. The resulting chronogram showed that suckers evolved since the Late Cretaceous–Eocene, and that the Catostomini and Moxostomatini clades have accumulated species diversity since the early to mid-Miocene. These results agree with the fossil record and confirm previous hypotheses about dates for the origins of Catostomide and catostomine diversification, but reject previous molecular hypotheses about the timing of divergence of ictiobines, and between Asian–North American lineages. Overall, our findings from a synthesis of multiple data types enhance understanding of the phylogenetic relationships, taxonomic classification, and temporal diversification of suckers, while also highlighting practical methods for improving Bayesian divergence dating models by coupling phylogenetic informativeness profiling with relaxed-clock partitioning.
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Xyrauchen is nested within Catostomus rather than as a distinct lineage.
“For X. texanus, we used Catostomus commersoni as a phylogenetic proxy, justified by phylogenetic analyses placing Xyrauchen as nested within Catostomus rather than as a distinct lineage (99, 100).”
From Convergent genome streamlining accompanies independent miniaturization in the world’s smallest fishes (2026) · cites this paper as [99]
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Sudasinghe, H., Matschiner, M., Britz, R., Conway, K. W., Tan, H. H., Salzburger, W., Peichel, C. L., & Rüber, L. (2026) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2614605123
- Authors
- Bagley, J. C., Mayden, R. L., & Harris, P. M.
- Affiliations
- Universidade de Brasília (BR)
- Saint Louis University (US)
- University of Alabama (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bagley, Justin C.
- Venue
- PeerJ
- Publisher
- PeerJ
- Published
- 2018-07-04
- Volume
- 6
- Pages
- e5168
- ISSN
- 2167-8359 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6035723
- OpenAlex
- W2802948476
- Cited by
- 43
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 2.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PeerJ (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Americanae (AECID Library) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) (EF-0431326 and EF-0431263)
- Brazilian Ciência Sem Fronteiras postdoctoral fellowship from CNPq (Processo 314724/2014-1)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Fish Biology and Ecology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Keywords
- suckers, Catostomidae, phylogeny, divergence time estimation, total evidence analysis, fossilized birth-death model, freshwater fish diversification, mitochondrial and nuclear genes, morphological data, time-calibrated phylogeny
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