Carolina M. Voloch, Pablo R. Freire and Claudia A.M. Russo
Published November 10, 2005
Genet. Mol. Res. 4 (4): 668-674 (2005)

About the Authors
Carolina M. Voloch, Pablo R. Freire and Claudia A.M. Russo

Corresponding author
C.A.M. Russo
Email: claudia@biologia.ufrj.br

ABSTRACT

Penaeid shrimps are an important resource in crustacean fisheries, representing more than the half of the gross production of shrimp worldwide. In the present study, we used a sample of wideranging diversity (41 shrimp species) and two mitochondrial markers (758 bp) to clarify the evolutionary relationships among Penaeidae genera. Three different methodologies of tree reconstruction were employed in the study: maximum likelihood, neighbor joining and Bayesian analysis. Our results suggest that the old Penaeus genus is monophyletic and that the inclusion of the Solenocera genus within the Penaeidae family remains uncertain. With respect to Metapenaeopsis monophyly, species of this genus appeared clustered, but with a nonsignificant bootstrap value. These results elucidate some features of the unclear evolution of Penaeidae and may contribute to the taxonomic characterization of this family.

Key words: Molecular evolution, Monophyly, Maximum likelihood, Crustacea, Old genus Penaeus.