How taxonomic misidentifications affect phylogenetic taxonomy: on voucher specimens used in García-Melo et al. (2019)

Abstract

Here I evaluate the taxonomic identifications used in García-Melo et al. (2019; GMEA hereafter) to infer the phylogenetic relationships among 372 fish species within the Stevardiinae (Characidae). The taxonomic assessment presented in this paper was based on taxa within my area of expertise, representing 13% of the species sampled in GMEA (59 of 372) and comprising species historically classified under Bryconamericus (21 species in GMEA), Carlastyanax (one species), Eretmobrycon (nine species), Hemibrycon (eight species), and Knodus (20 species). I compared the geographical overlap between collection localities in GMEA to the known geographic ranges for 59 taxa. I detected potential taxonomic misidentifications in 17% of the taxa here evaluated (10 of 59 species). Finally, I provide additional details on (i) why taxa were misidentified in GMEA and (ii) how phylogenetic conclusions were potentially compromised by taxonomic errors.

Keywords

• Characidae
• fishes
• Neotropical
• South America
• Systematics