A re-evaluation of taxonomic status of Alburnoides parhami using morphological and genetic data

This study was conducted to evaluate phylogenetic and taxonomic statue of Alburnoides parhami using COI molecular marker and morphological data. For this purpose, topotypes of 10 species of the genus Alburnoides were sampled from 6 inland water basins during 2014-2016. For morphological study, 29 morphometric and 8 meristic characters were measured and counted. For morphological comparison of this species and its closest relative based on molecular data i.e. A. holciki, Principal Component analysis and MANOVA were used. The gene of COI were analyzed using Maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods to reconstruct their phylogenetic tree. Based on the results, A. holciki and A. parhami could not differentiated based on morphological characteristics. The molecular results based on COI gene revealed a small divergence i.e. these two species were different in one nucleotide position based on nucleotide parsimony polymorphism. Therefore, it is suggested that A. parhami is junior synonym of A. parhami.