Molecular Systematics of North American Cyprinid Fishes: Cyprinella lutrensis and the C. lutrensis Complex

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The proposed research will investigate variation in mitochondrial (mt) DNA molecules among geographic samples of the North American cyprinid fish Cyprinella lutrensis an among other species belonging to the C. lutrensis complex or species-group in the continental United States. The research is designed primarily to infer hypotheses of phylogenetic or genealogical relationships within C. lutrensis and among C. lutrensis complex species. Goals to be realized by achievement of the primary objective include (i) an assessment of whether cryptic species within the C. lutrensis complex exist in the Trans-Pecos and other regions in Texas, and (ii) an assessment of the biogeographic events which led to the current distribution of C. lutrensis and related species in the continental United States. Goal (i) is of importance relative to the inventory of fauna endemic or native to the a United States and to ongoing attempts within Texas and the southwestern United States to protect and preserve native organisms. Goal (ii) will ultimately provide hypotheses of geological events which occurred in the central and southwestern regions of the continental United States during pre- and post-glacial times.