[Taxacom] Living fossil eel (Another top ten species celebration)

[Kenneth Kinman]

Hi all,

       That 2014 paper that I mentioned yesterday (based on limited molecular data) may well be wrong in concluding that Synaphobrachidae is a sister group to Protanguillidae.  The 2016 edition of Fishes of the World, page 139 ( https://batrachos.com/sites/default/files/pictures/Books/Nelson_ea_2016_Fishes%20of%20the%20World.pdf ) shows Suborder Protanguilloidei as containing only Protanguillidae, and Suborder Synaphobranchoidei then splitting off next (before the rest of the true eels).


        If you want to see a video of the living fossil Protanguilla palau, here's a weblink:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOXiDjYOPgA


________________________________
From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> on behalf of Kenneth Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2018 9:20 PM
To: Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Another top ten species celebration - marine decadal and annual

Thanks Geoff,

       That living fossil, new genus Protanguilla (new Family Protanguillidae), discovered in 2010, is particularly interesting.  But perhaps even more interesting is a bit of a challenge to it being alone as a living fossil, as it has been more recently proposed that it is not alone in being the most primitive eel family, but is part of a Suborder Protanguilloidei which also includes Family Synaphobranchidae:


https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790313003448?via%3Dihub



However, even more recent proposals list Synaphobrachoidei as a Suborder separate from Protanguilloidei, so I guess the exact basal relationships of eels is still an open question.  Is Family Protanguillidae alone the sister group of other eels, or is the sister group actually Protanguillidae plus Synaphobrachidae?  Are molecular and morphological data in conflict here?



                  ------------------Ken Kinman


________________________________
From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> on behalf of Geoff Read <gread at actrix.gen.nz>
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2018 6:54 PM
To: Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: [Taxacom] Another top ten species celebration - marine decadal and annual


FYI.  Some public taxonomic outreach from WoRMS.

2017 marked a decade since the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS)
was established.

http://www.lifewatch.be/en/worms-top10-2007-2017

http://www.lifewatch.be/en/worms-top10-2017

http://www.lifewatch.be/en/2018.04.23-WoRMS-LifeWatch-press-release

On twitter #top10marinespp

(sent this yesterday from work, but apparently into the endless void)

Geoff Read


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