Genetic confirmation of the first Mediterranean record of Holacanthus africanus Cadenat, 1951
05/15/2020Genetic confirmation of the first Mediterranean record of Holacanthus africanus Cadenat, 1951
Alan Deidun, Teresa Maggio, Luca Castriota, Manuela Falautano, Giulio Franzitta
Department of Geosciences, University of Malta, Msida MSD 2080, MALTA
ISPRA (Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale), Lungomare Cristoforo Colombo 4521 (Ex Complesso Roosevelt), 90149 Palermo, ITALY
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, ITALY
ORCID IDs: A.D. 0000-0002-6919-5374; T.M. 0000-0003-1832-4161; L.C. 0000-0002-3349-9501; M.F. 0000-0001-7844-665X; G.F. 0000-0003-4162-3506
Abstract
The first Mediterranean record of the pomacanthid Holacanthus africanus, caught within the Maltese waters, was assigned based on morphological and meristic characters. However, molecular and genetic analyses are required to confirm the taxonomic determination and avoid misidentification given the abundance of closely-related Pomacanthidae species and the biogeographic significance of this record for the Mediterranean. At the species level, the analyzed specimens gave a 99.7% identity match with H. africanus. This study represents yet another example of molecular analyses supplementing the conclusions of conventional morphological identification exercises.
Keywords: Guinea angelfish, taxonomic identification, genetic analyses
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