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Published Online March 20, 2003
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1080699

Reports

Submitted on November 21, 2002
Accepted on February 17, 2003

Origin of the Superflock of Cichlid Fishes from Lake Victoria, East Africa

Erik Verheyen 1, Walter Salzburger 2, Jos Snoeks 3, Axel Meyer 2*

1 Vertebrate Department, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.
2 Department of Biology, Lehrstuhl für Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78457, Konstanz, Germany.
3 Vertebrate Section, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Leuvensesteenweg 13, 3080 Tervuren, Belgium.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: axel.meyer{at}uni-konstanz.de.

Lake Victoria harbors a unique species-rich flock of more than 500 endemic haplochromine cichlid fishes. The origin, age, and mechanism of diversification of this extraordinary radiation are still debated. Geological evidence suggests that the lake dried out completely about 14,700 years ago. On the basis of phylogenetic analyses of almost 300 DNA sequences of the mitochondrial control region of East African cichlids, we find that the Lake Victoria cichlid flock is derived from the geologically older Lake Kivu. We suggest that the two seeding lineages may have already been lake-adapted when they colonized Lake Victoria. A haplotype analysis further shows that the most recent desiccation of Lake Victoria did not lead to a complete extinction of its endemic cichlid fauna and that the major lineage diversification took place about 100,000 years ago.


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