Phylogenetics of European cyprinids: insights from allozymes

Allozyme data from 23 central European cyprinid taxa suggest that the two sub‐families Alburninae and Leuciscinae are paraphyletic. However together, both families seem to form a monophyletic group. By using a molecular clock, the radiation of this group is estimated to be as old as 20 million years. This is consistent with the fossil record. The genus Leuciscus is not monophyletic. The commonly used genus Blicca is a junior synonym to Abramis and both genera should become merged. The genus Tinca is rather distinct from the Alburninae Leuciscinae lineage and clearly does not belong to this group. These conclusions are consistent with published phylogenetic analyses of sequence data. These analyses underline that despite the developments in sequencing allozymes are a cheap and valuable tool in phylogenetics. Combining the estimate of the phylogenetic tree and biogeographic data, there was a decrease of distributional overlap when moving from the tips of the tree to the root. This pattern is consistent with sympatric speciation.