Some news in the lepomis world, I may be a little late but I thought I'd share it with you guys. Found a paper detailing some genetic work done on the centrarchid family, so I thought I'd share the findings about everyone's favorite, sunfish. I've made a quick diagram explaining the currently understood relations between lepomis species, but I've included the updated data found in the recent L. megalotis split (as the paper detailing the relations across the entire family did not include the new longear species), as well as my interpretation of the three bluegill lineages, which as far as I know are not backed up by genetics yet but I'm sure they will be.
I also made my own diagram prior to finding this one, just based on what I thought the relations would be based on morphology alone, and I was pretty close, as I got the general idea of what was close to what, but didn't get the exact placements right. I also got humilis and auritus completely wrong. The last thing I would've expected was for the sister species of bluegill to be orangespots.
I also made my own diagram prior to finding this one, just based on what I thought the relations would be based on morphology alone, and I was pretty close, as I got the general idea of what was close to what, but didn't get the exact placements right. I also got humilis and auritus completely wrong. The last thing I would've expected was for the sister species of bluegill to be orangespots.
