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Evolution as a Lottery Conflicting with Evolution via Sexual Selection in African Rain Forest—Dwelling Killifishes (Cyprinodontidae, Rivulinae, Diapteron)

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Evolutionary Biology

Part of the book series: Evolutionary Biology ((EBIO,volume 28))

Abstract

Populations of cyprinodont fishes (killifish) of the subfamily Rivulinae in the Afrotropical and Neotropical regions presumably split about 100 million years ago, when Gondwanaland fragmented and Africa began to be isolated. Among the species-rich fauna of African rivulines, no extant species can cope with salinity and none is found closer than 500–1000 m to the sea. Although some American mud skipper-like rivulines such as Guianese representatives of the genus Anableps (A. anableps, A. microlepis) live in estuaries, cyprinodonts have never become fully marine, so their presence in both south America and Africa is a measure of their antiquity (Kingdon, 1990). On both continents, freshwater cyprinodonts present many similarities including sexual dimorphism, bright male coloration, elaborate displays, and population dynamics, as for example in species of Aphyosemion in west central Africa, and of the genus Rivulus in French Guiana (Brosset, unpublished). Moreover, annual as well as nonannual species of killifish have evolved in both regions (Simpson, 1979). Whether these similarities are the result of common ancestry from a tropical Gondwanian stock or of striking evolutionary convergence is nonetheless questionable. What is certain is that both lineages have been prone to local speciation. The extensive radiations of African killifishes are the focus of the present chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Museum of Natural History, Laboratory of General Ecology, F-91800, Brunoy, France

    A. Brosset

  2. Biology and Evolutionary Genetics, CNRS, F-91198, Gifsur-Yvette Cedex, France

    D. Lachaise

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  1. A. Brosset
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  1. Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, New York, USA

    Max K. Hecht

  2. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

    Ross J. Macintyre

  3. University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California, USA

    Michael T. Clegg

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Brosset, A., Lachaise, D. (1995). Evolution as a Lottery Conflicting with Evolution via Sexual Selection in African Rain Forest—Dwelling Killifishes (Cyprinodontidae, Rivulinae, Diapteron). In: Hecht, M.K., Macintyre, R.J., Clegg, M.T. (eds) Evolutionary Biology. Evolutionary Biology, vol 28. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1847-1_6

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