A taxonomic evalution of Alburnus sellal heckel, 1843 and alburnus adanensis Battalgazi, 1944: Based on morphological characters and mitochondrial DNA sequences

Abstract

Alburnus sellal inhabits Ceyhan, Euphrates, Orontes and Tigris river basins whereas Alburnus adanensis is geographically restricted to Ceyhan and Seyhan river basins. Due to the very similar morphometric and meristic characteristics, discrimination of these two species is difficult. The most important diagnostic character is the scale numbers in lateral line (73-80 in A. sellal vs 60-66 in A. adanensis) and pronounced lack of the dark grey band on side of the body. In order to clarify the taxonomic status of the A. sellal and A. adanensis, a total of 27 morphological characters and the nucleotide sequence variation of mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) and cytochrome oxidase I (COI) genes were analyzed on the specimens which were from Seyhan, Ceyhan, lower Euphrates and Orontes river basins. The results show high similarity between A. sellal and A. adanensis based on the morphometric and the morphological characters using Principal Component Analyses (PCA). In addition genetic distance of the specimens belonging to two species between 0.000 to 0.011 using COI and cyt b genes sequences. Therefore, our results based on morphology, molecules and nomenclatural priority pointed out that A. adanensis should be evaluated as a synonym of A. sellal.