Phylogeny and Classification of Neotropical Fishes

Author(s): Carl J. Ferraris Jr

Source: Copeia, 2000(1):314-315. 2000.
Published By: The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1643/0045-8511(2000)2000[0314:BR]2.0.CO;2
URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1643/0045-8511%282000%292000%5B0314%3ABR
%5D2.0.CO%3B2

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 BOOK REVIEWS
Copeia, 2000(1), pp. 314318
q 2000 by the American Society of
Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
PHY LOGENY AND CLASSIFICATION OF
NEOTROPICAL FISHES. Luiz R. Malabarba,
Roberto E. Reis, Richard P. Vari, Zilda Margar-
ete S. Lucena, and Carlos Alberto S. Lucena
(eds.). 1998. EDIPURUS, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
ISBN 85-7430-035-7. (ii) 1 603 p. R$76 [Hard-
cover, postage extra. Price set only in Brazilian
Reais, approximately US$40 in September 1999.
Books available internationally from the follow-
ing book dealers in Brazil: Livraria Saraiva
(www.livrariasaraiva.com.br) or Livraria Loyola
(www.livloyola.com.br/livraria)].In the de-
cades that surrounded the beginning of the
20th century, studies of the fishes of the Neo-
tropical region flourished. By the end of the
first decade of that century, treatises on most
major taxonomic groups of freshwater fishes of
South and Central America had been published
(e.g., catfishes, by Eigenmann and Eigenmann,
1890, and Regan, 1904; cichlids, by Eigenmann
and Bray, 1894, and Pellegrin, 1904; and gym-
notoids, by Eigenmann and Ward, 1905), or
were in preparation (characoids, by Eigenmann
and coauthors). Comparably ambitious faunal
catalogs of the fishes South America (Eigen-
mann and Eigenmann, 1891), Central America
(Eigenmann, 1893) and Mexico (Meek, 1904)
were also undertaken during this same period.
Eigenmann (1910) synthesized the accumulated
information into a comprehensive catalog of
the freshwater fishes south of the Ro Panuco,
Mexico, which has since served as a benchmark
of our knowledge of the diversity of Neotropical
fishes.
Now, as another century begins, we have what
must be considered a new benchmark for Neo-
tropical ichthyology in the Phylogeny and Classi-
fication of Neotropical Fishes. This volume is a col-
lection of papers that were first presented as
contributions to a symposium held in Porto Ale-
gre, Brazil, in 1997. The contributions consist
of 29 papers written by a total of 39 authors.
The volume is arranged as a series of overview
papers for each major taxonomic group repre-
sented in the Neotropics, followed by one or
more contributions to the systematics of a part
of that taxon. These taxonomic treatments are
preceded by a general overview of Neotropical
ichthyology and a series of papers that summa-
rize the geological and paleontological history
of South America, as it relates to fishes, and are
followed by a brief overview of the literature on
cytogenetic studies of Neotropical fishes. All pa-
pers are in English (the general overview is also
in Portuguese), with both English and Portu-
guese abstracts.
The taxonomic overview papers provide an
introduction and literature review to the history
and current status of the systematics of the cov-
ered group. Collectively, these papers provide
an excellent introduction to the biodiversity of
Neotropical fishes. Some of these overviews go
beyond the traditional bounds of review papers
by providing new information or new analyses
of the available data. A few examples of these
extended reviews are worth mentioning here.
Mario de Pinnas overview of the Siluriformes
examines the phylogenetic positions of some
unresolved or controversial catfish taxa, includ-
ing Phreatobius and Hypophthalmus, and provides
convincing evidence for their relationships.
Sven Kullanders review of the Cichlidae pro-
vides a phylogenetic hypothesis and new classi-
fication on characters gleaned primarily from
character information found in literature he re-
viewed. Ricardo Campos-da-Paz and James Al-
bert provide an extensive literature review of
the gymnotiform classification, which is fol-
lowed by a second paper (in reverse author-
ship) of a phylogenetic analysis of the group.
Complementing the overviews is a series of
papers that focus on diverse questions of rela-
tionships of Neotropical fishes. Each of these
papers stands on its own merits, not unlike con-
tributions to Copeia. The taxa covered reflect
current interests of the participants and range
in scope from interfamilial studies (e.g., Wilson
Costas examinations of cyprinodontiform fam-
ily relationships), to the study of the monophyly
and relationships of the characid genus Creagru-
tus, by Richard Vari and Tony Harold. Most of
the phylogenetic analyses that form the bases of
these papers were undertaken on a variety of
morphological characters (the most unusual of
which is sperm ultrastructure, by John Burns
and coauthors). Reflecting current trends in
phylogenetic analysis, molecular data were used
to examine a number of problems, among
which were Jose Alves-Gomess study of the po-
sition of the electric knifefish genera Sternopygus
and Archolaemus, and a phylogenetic study of
two large clades within the Cichlidae (by Izeni
Farias, Horacio Schneider, and Iracilda Sam-
paio).
 BOOK REVIEWS
The inclusion in this volume of both review
articles and contributions to the primary scien-
tific literature is an interesting combination but
one that comes with a price. Conclusions
reached in a review article often differ from
those found in one or more of the other con-
tributions. The most noteworthy of these dis-
agreements revolves around the various contri-
butions to the phylogeny of characiform fishes
and the nature of the resulting classification.
Such problems are not unique to students of
Neotropical fishes, and to be sure, the conflict-
ing results and interpretations represent the na-
ture of the discipline. To the editors credit,
such disagreements are openly acknowledged in
the relevant papers by cross-references to op-
posing statements that are found elsewhere in
the volume.
Editing and production of the volume must
have been a daunting task. The results indicate
that the editors were concerned with maintain-
ing a consistent style across contributions. Er-
rors are remarkably scarce and, when found, are
usually easily corrected. For example, the cap-
tion for figure 9 on page 205 identifies the il-
lustration as maxillary teeth, whereas the asso-
ciated text clearly indicates that the illustration
is that of premaxillary teeth. One noteworthy
error is found on the bottom of the first column
of page 465, where some text was apparently
deleted from the sentence that bridges the two
columns. It is not clear how much text was lost
or the significance of the missing words. In an
otherwise well-produced book, I must note one
concern. In each of the four copies I examined,
the pages were unevenly sewn together, leaving
at least one signature extending out from the
spine. I believe that, with even moderate use,
the stitching will fail to keep the book together.
This is most likely to be a problem with library
and laboratory copies, and it may require that
the books be rebound soon.
The editors, authors, and publisher should be
justifiably proud of this book. Not only does it
provide its readers with an excellent summary
of the current state of the systematics of Neo-
tropical fishes, but it also points to interesting
and noteworthy problems that should occupy
ichthyologists well into the future. And, I can
think of no better way to judge the future of
systematic ichthyology in the Neotropical world
than to point to the cadre of young ichthyolo-
gists that contributed to the production of this
book and conclude that the field is in the best
of all possible hands.
315
LITERATURE CITED
EIGENMANN, C. H. 1893. Catalogue of the fresh-water
fishes of Central America and southern Mexico.
Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 16:5360.
. 1910. Catalogue of the freshwater fishes of
tropical and south temperate America, p. 375511.
In: Reports of the Princeton University expeditions
to Patagonia, 18961899, 3(4). Princeton Univ.,
Princeton, NJ.
, AND W. L. BRAY. 1894. A revision of the Amer-
ican Cichlidae. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 7:607624.
, AND R. S. EIGENMANN. 1890. A revision of the
South American Nematognathi, or cat-fishes. Occ.
Pap. Calif. Acad. Sci. 1:1508.
, AND R. S. EIGENMANN. 1891. A catalogue of
freshwater fishes of South America. Proc. U.S. Natl.
Mus. 14:181.
, AND D. P. WARD. 1905. The Gymnotidae.
Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci. 7:157186.
MEEK, S. E. 1904. The fresh-water fishes of Mexico
north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Field Colum-
bian Mus. Zool. Ser. 5:ilxiii, 1252, pls. 117.
PELLEGRIN, J. 1904. Contribution a` letude anato-
mique, biologique et taxinomique des poissons de
la famille des cichlides. Mem. Soc. Zool. France 16:
41399.
REGAN, C. T. 1904. A monograph on the fishes of the
family Loricariidae. Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. 17:191
324.
CARL J. FERRARIS JR., California Academy of Scienc-
es, San Francisco, California 94118.
E-mail: ferraris@calacademy.org.
PROBLEM SNAKE MANAGEMENT: THE
HABU AND THE BROWN TREESNAKE. Gor-
don H. Rodda, Yoshido Sawai, David Chiszar,
and Hiroshi Tanaka, eds. 1999. Cornell Univer-
sity Press, Ithaca, New York. ISBN 0-8014-3507-
2. 534 pp. $47.50 (hardbound).From two per-
spectives, the idea of problem snakes seems
rather peculiar. For many members of the gen-
eral public, the term problem snake is redun-
dant; how can a snake be anything BUT a prob-
lem? Conversely, from the point of view of a her-
petologist, the concept of a problem snake is
clearly a contradiction; after all, how many her-
petologists have come back from a days field-
work and complained that they had seen too
many snakes?
Obviously, however, some snakes do cause
more problems for humans than do others,
and this text represents the first major effort
to try and deal with the issues raised by snakes
that create serious concerns for human health
and economic well-being because of their
316 COPEIA, 2000, NO. 1
abundance or proximity to humans. This book
focuses almost all of its attention on two spe-
cies, the Brown Treesnake (Boiga irregularis)
and the Habu (Trimeresurus flavoviridis). Both
have been demonstrated to be harmful, both
as a direct threat to human safety (habu) and
as disrupters of an entire ecosystem (brown
tree snakes).
Problem Snake Management consists of 39 chap-
ters (plus a comprehensive Introduction and
Epilogue) divided into seven major sections: Ba-
sic Biology (four chapters); Venom and Human
Health (four chapters); Behavioral and Sensory
Biology (five chapters); Population Biology
(four chapters); Capture and Detection (10
chapters); Biological, Ecological, and Chemical
Control (eight chapters); and Conservation Bi-
ology (four chapters plus Epilogue). A total of
57 authors contributed these chapters. Seven-
teen chapters focus on the habu, 13 on the
brown tree snake, two on both species, and sev-
en on general topics.
As is true of many multiauthored volumes,
the depth and appeal of the chapters vary con-
siderably, but several chapters should appeal to
a broad audience of herpetologists and re-
source managers. The introductory chapter by
Rodda et al. provides a detailed and interesting
overview of snake management in general and
problem snakes in particular. In Chapter 2,
Rodda et al. present a comprehensive overview
of the biology of the brown tree snake. This
chapter will be especially useful to many snake
ecologists because many of the papers pub-
lished on this species over the past 10 years are
not widely available. The concept and draw-
backs of biological control of snakes and other
vertebrates receive a thorough review by F. Ho-
warth. The chapter by R. Mason reviewed the
topic of pheromonal control in such a manner
that one feels both well informed and ready to
take on the challenge of working on snake
pheromones as a research topic. Even chapters
that might not appear (from their title) to have
broad appeal might surprise the reader. For ex-
ample, the chapter by Rodda et al. on A State
of the Art Trap for the Brown Treesnake con-
tained an 18-page appendix that summarizes
the capture rate of snake trapping studies world-
wide as a function of trap type and bait. This is
a highly valuable resource for snake field ecol-
ogists and resource managers.
One section of the text that is bound to spark
both interest and controversy is the group of
chapters proposing or discussing the use of bi-
ological or chemical control agents to regulate
habu or brown treesnake populations. Here, the
reader will find specific suggestions for the con-
trol of snakes via the use of parasites, amoebas,
and various chemical compounds. We were sur-
prised (and a little appalled) to see how far such
experiments had gone. One of the species used
to test the effectiveness of dermal toxicants
was an eastern diamondback rattlesnake im-
ported from the United States. (If you are cu-
rious, it takes five hours to kill an adult dia-
mondback rattlesnake using a pyrethroid com-
pound.)
In our view, the purpose of books such as this
one is to provide a review and synthesis of the
literature and produce contributions that can-
not easily find a home in standard peer-re-
viewed publications. Despite the best intentions
of the editors, a number of chapters in the cur-
rent text do not meet that standard. Some (e.g.,
Seasonal Changes of Spermatogenesis. . .)
are perfectly competent studies that would have
been better suited for a full article in a main-
stream herpetological journal. Unfortunately,
several other chapters are less useful. Some are
so short (48 pages of text) that they really are
suited for Shorter Communications. Others
contain so little data that their publication is
frankly questionable (one chapter on telemetry
of the habu reports a total of 19 days of tracking
over four years). Although such contributions
do not detract from the better chapters noted
above, it does lead one to wish that the editors
had been able to direct some of these contri-
butions to alternate outlets.
On a more positive note, this is a handsome
and well-produced volume; the cover is strik-
ing; the quality of the typeface and illustrations
is quite good; and the price is attractive for a
hardbound book in todays market. The ref-
erences for each chapter are at the end of that
contribution (a helpful decision by the edi-
tors), and there is a well-organized and fairly
complete index. The tables and figures are well
presented in most cases. However, the lack of
color figures for the histological chapters does
make this information less useful than it could
have been.
In summary, Problem Snake Management would
be a solid addition to the libraries of both her-
petologists and resource managers. Although
few readers will find all of the chapters exciting,
there is something here for most readers, and
the editors are to be congratulated for produc-
ing an interesting and timely text.
RICHARD A. SEIGEL AND NADIA A. SEIGEL, Depart-
ment of Biological Sciences, Southeastern Louisi-
ana University, SLU 10736, Hammond, Louisi-
ana, 70402. E-mail: rseigel@selu.edu.
 BOOK REVIEWS
AMPHIBIAN BIOLOGY. VOLUME 3. SENSO-
RY PERCEPTION. Harold Heatwole and Ellen
Dawley, eds. 1998. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chip-
ping Norton, New South Wales, Australia. ISBN
0-949324-72-8 262 p. AU $78.00 1 postage
(cloth).The perceptual world in which an an-
imal lives is shaped by the sensory systems it pos-
sesses. Any attempt to understand an animals
behavior or the ways in which it interacts with
its environment must take into account the type
and range of stimuli that can be detected. The
third volume of the new Amphibian Biology series
seeks to enable the reader to understand the
world in which amphibians live by describing
their sensory systems and the uses to which they
are put.
This book contains seven chapters written by
different authors and follows a volume on am-
phibian skin and one on amphibian social be-
havior. The series editor, Harold Heatwole, has
explicitly modeled the series on the monumen-
tal Biology of the Reptilia series edited by Carl
Gans, which premiered in 1969 and has pro-
duced 19 volumes to date. Trying to live up to
the Reptilia series must be a daunting task, and
Heatwole should be commended for setting out
to provide readers with detailed, scholarly infor-
mation about many aspects of the lives of am-
phibians.
As in many edited volumes, the chapters vary
considerably in the approach taken, material
covered, and level of information provided. The
quality of the illustrations is generally high, but
a few chapters contain some of the poorest il-
lustrations that Ive seen in print. Overall, the
book appears to have been aimed at a target
audience consisting of researchers who are
more knowledgeable about amphibians than
about the nervous system, although the areas in
which the authors specialize are generally re-
flected in their chapters.
Chapter 1 (by Ellen Dawley) covers the olfac-
tory and vomeronasal systems and describes the
anatomy, physiology, and molecular biology of
these sensory systems before devoting nearly a
third of the chapter to a review of their role in
amphibian behavior. The review of behavior is
the strong point of the chapter. The author
seems far less comfortable when describing
transduction, and this section contains several
errors. The description of the anatomy of the
olfactory system would have been more useful
if the author had distinguished between fea-
tures that are common among vertebrates and
those that are specific to amphibians. Chapter
2, on the taste system of amphibians (by Linda
317
Barlow) provides a comprehensive review. The
chapter begins by establishing a perceptual con-
text for the sense of taste in amphibians, in-
cluding an intriguing exploration of the rela-
tionships among the sense of taste, incidence of
cannibalism, and prevalence of toxic skin secre-
tions in diverse amphibian taxa. The author
then provides a thorough description of the
comparative anatomy of amphibian taste sys-
tems, the physiological functioning of taste sys-
tems, and aspects of the development and re-
generation in the taste system.
Chapter 3 (by Gerhard Roth, Ursula Dicke,
and Wolfgang Wiggers) deals with the amphib-
ian visual system. Vision is the best-understood
vertebrate sensory system, and this chapter
makes good use of the wealth of information
available, comprising more than one-third of
the book. The chapter opens with a nice sum-
mary of research on visual perception in am-
phibians and progresses to detailed reviews of
the comparative anatomy of the retina and cen-
tral visual targets and the comparative physiol-
ogy of amphibian vision. The authors even de-
scribe mechanisms of photodetection in the pi-
neal complex before concluding with a magnif-
icently thought-provoking 10-page summary of
mechanisms of visual perception that organizes
current knowledge and points to many unre-
solved questions.
Chapter 4 (by Bernd Fritzsch and Timothy
Neary) concerns the octavolateralis system,
namely, the organs of hearing and balance in
the inner ear, as well as the electrosensory and
mechanosensory organs of the lateral lines. The
chapter begins with a discussion of the basis for
including these sensory systems under one
heading before turning to an exhaustively de-
tailed description of the comparative anatomy,
evolution, development, and physiology of
these sensory systems in amphibians. Because
the auditory system plays a central role in an-
uran communication, auditory perception has
been extensively studied in frogs and toads. I
was disappointed to see that this chapter con-
tains no information about auditory perception
and makes only a glancing reference to the use
of auditory systems in anuran communication.
Indeed, the citations for the word courtship
in the index of the book point only to the first
chapter, on olfaction; searching the index for
communication or reproduction is fruit-
less. Perhaps the information I sought is con-
tained in the second volume in the series, on
social behavior of amphibians. If so, an explicit
reference should have been provided here. This
omission is particularly difficult to understand
given that the book is dedicated to Robert Ca-
318 COPEIA, 2000, NO. 1
pranica and opens with a lively, thoughtful pref-
ace, written by Peter Narins, describing Capran-
icas contributions to our understanding of au-
ditory-guided behavior in frogs.
Chapters 5 and 6 are shorter, covering the
sensory systems of the skin in larvae and adults,
and are written by Alan Roberts and Harold
Heatwole, respectively. These chapters describe
the neural basis of the sense of touch, and the
latter includes a section on sensory feedback
from muscles and tendons. Both chapters re-
view the scant information available, and the
chapter on adults even includes a section on
somatosensory receptive fields, which may be as
close to perception as researchers have come.
The final chapter of the book (by John Phillips)
provides an overview of the magnetic sense in
amphibians. A few people may still dispute the
contention that at least some vertebrates can de-
tect magnetic fields, and the author reviews the
available behavioral evidence for this ability in
amphibians. The anatomical and physiological
basis of magnetoreception remains highly con-
troversial, and this chapter contains descrip-
tions of the alternative hypotheses that have
been proposed.
Each chapter is well researched and would
serve as a useful starting point for the portion
of the literature covered, although most chap-
ters appear to have been finished in 1996 or
1997. Mercifully, the editor has placed the cited
references at the end of each chapter, and the
reader is not forced to wade through one long
reference section at the end of the book. I wish
that other aspects of the book were as user-
friendly. The book contains three separate in-
dices: a subject index; a taxonomic index; and
an index of chemicals, enzymes, and hormones.
A hasty reader seeking information on the ves-
tibular system might be confused when a search
under V on the last page of the book reveals
only a listing for Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide.
In addition, common names of the animals
mentioned in the book are not listed in either
the subject index or the taxonomic index, and
researchers names are similarly omitted. A
reader seeking to learn about Ewerts classic ex-
periments with visual perception in toads would
be frustrated by the indices. I hope that future
volumes of the series will contain a single, com-
prehensive index, as well as the tables of con-
tents of previous volumes.
The Amphibian Biology series fills a niche. The
current volume provides more detailed and
masterful reviews of the individual sensory sys-
tems of amphibians than a general text like
Duellman and Truebs Biology of Amphibians
(1986) or Llinas and Prechts older and more
specialized edited volume on Frog Neurobiology
(1976). Given that we know little about percep-
tion in amphibians, other than in the visual and
auditory systems, the volume should probably
have been entitled Sensory Biology rather
than Sensory Perception, but it is still the best
single source of information on amphibian sen-
sory systems.
LITERATURE CITED
DUELLMAN, W. E., AND L. TRUEB. 1986. Biology of
amphibians. McGraw-Hill, New York.
GANS, C., (ED.). 19691998. Biology of the Reptilia.
Academic Press, New York; Alan R. Liss, New York;
Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago.
LLINAS, R., AND W. PRECHT (EDS.). 1976. Frog neu-
robiology: a handbook. Springer-Verlag, New York.
HEATHER L. EISTHEN, Department of Zoology, Mich-
igan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
48824. E-mail: eisthen@msu.edu.