Mitochondrial DNA Variation in the Ozark Highland Members of the Banded Sculpin Cottus carolinae Complex

Abstract

The goal of this study was to determine whether variation in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data is concordant with morphological divergence in the five Ozark Highlands members of the complex of banded sculpin Cottus carolinae: Eyelash sculpin, fringehead sculpin, Black River race, grotto sculpin, and midlands race. We generated a phylogenetic hypothesis for the banded sculpin complex based on a data set composed of 841 base pairs of mtDNA (ATPase-8 and ATPase-6) for 58 individuals representing all banded sculpin complex members that occur in the Ozark Highlands and comparative material collected outside of the highlands. Divergence in mtDNA was found to be generally concordant with morphological distinctiveness in the fringehead sculpin, eyelash sculpin, Black River race, and grotto sculpin; however, genetic divergence of these taxa was generally low (sequence divergence maximum = 0.2-1.4%) relative to the marked morphological distinctness exhibited by these taxa. In contrast, the midlands race was recovered as nonmonophyletic and contained a relatively large amount of within-race sequence divergence (uncorrected p-distance = 0-5%), illustrating that this race is poorly understood.