Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of the Cuban genus Girardinus Poey, 1854 and relationships within the tribe Girardinini (Actinopterygii, Poeciliidae)

Phylogenetic relationships among members of the freshwater fish tribe Girardinini were inferred to test existing colonization and diversification hypotheses for this group in the Caribbean. The genetic material examined was mitochondrial (cytochrome b, 1140 bp) and nuclear (RAG-1 and β-actin, 2450 bp) DNA from 161 specimens representing 44 ingroup and three outgroup taxa. Our mtDNA and combined data matrix (mtDNA + nuclear DNA) results rendered a well-supported phylogeny for the tribe Girardinini and suggest the need to review the group’s current taxonomy. From the data presented here, it may be inferred that the Girardinini diverged from other poeciliid fishes approximately 62 Mya ago in the Palaeocene period. This estimate, however, conflicts with the hypothesis that today’s vertebrate fauna is the result of the more recent colonization of the Antillean islands during the Early Oligocene (35–33 Mya ago). The isolation of western, central and eastern Cuba during the Miocene and that of the Juventud Island and Guanahacabibes Peninsula during the Pliocene, are the main geologic events that could have promoted speciation in this group.