Revision and change to the South American pufferfish (Tetradontiformes)

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Previously Tetradontiformes in South America were previously recognised as Sphoeroides and Colomesus but with the latest scientific evidence Colomesus has been synonymised with Sphoeroides. Sphoeroides (syn. Colomesus) contains two freshwater species, S. ascellus and S. tocatinensis, particularly the former is a frequent import for the aquarium trade.

Figure 1: The species of the revised Sphoeroides as described in Araujo et al. (2023).

This study used molecular phylogenetics to identify a phylogeny of the genus Sphoeroides (Fig 2) discovering the paraphyletic nature of Colomesus. The gene COI from the mitochondrial genome was used, which does beg the question how the phylogeny would differ with more genes including contributions from the nucleus.

Figure 2: Phylogeny of the South American Tetraodontiformes according to Araujo et al. (2023).

While this has changed a lot it’s possible more revisions and adjustments will be made, science has some level of opinion so it’s going to be an interesting future.

Source:

Araujo, G. S., Kurtz, Y. R., Sazima, I., Carvalho, P. H., Floeter, S. R., Vilasboa, A., … & Carvalho-Filho, A. (2023). Evolutionary history, biogeography, and a new species of Sphoeroides (Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae): how the major biogeographic barriers of the Atlantic Ocean shaped the evolution of a pufferfish genus. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, zlad055.

https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad055/7243360?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false

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