Resolving the taxonomy of Malagasy cichlids with museomics: preliminary phylogenetic results for the genus Paratilapia

Malagasy cichlids of the genus Paratilapia bear an ambiguous and unresolved taxonomy at the species level; apart from a single species, Paratilapia polleni Bleeker, 1868, currently recognized, two other species – commonly treated as synonyms – have been described in the past: P. typus (Bleeker, 1878) and P. bleekeri Sauvage, 1882. To resolve the taxonomy within the genus Paratilapia, this study aimed to analyse mitochondrial DNA sequences obtained from both modern and historical tissue samples of Paratilapia specimens. The molecular dataset included data of one syntype specimen of P. polleni, recovered by applying museomics protocols for historical DNA extraction from wet collection specimens. The phylogenetic analyses were performed using the sequences of the mitochondrial gene fragments 16S rRNA (16S), Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit 1 (COI), and NADH dehydrogenase 2 (NADH 2). The results of this study show the consistent phylogenetic placement of the syntype specimen of P. polleni Bleeker, 1868 as closely related to Paratilapia specimens collected from the Malagasy offshore island Nosy Be, confirming their species status.