Phylogenomics reveals habitat-associated body shape divergence in Oryzias woworae species group (Teleostei: Adrianichthyidae)

Abstract The Oryzias woworae species group, composed of O. asinua , O. wolasi , and O. woworae , is widely distributed in southeastern Sulawesi, an island in the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Deep-elongated body shape divergence is evident among these three species to the extent that it is used as a species-diagnostic character. These fishes inhabit a variety of habitats, ranging from upper streams to ponds, suggesting that the body shape divergence among the three species may reflect adaptation to local environments. First, our geometric morphometrics among eight local populations of this species group revealed that the three species cannot be separated by body shape and that riverine populations had more elongated bodies and longer caudal parts than lacustrine populations. Second, their phylogenetic relationships did not support the presence of three species; phylogenies using mitochondrial DNA and genomic data obtained from RNA-Seq revealed that the eight populations could not be sorted into three different clades representing three described species. Third, phylogenetic corrections of body shape variations and ancestral state reconstruction of body shapes demonstrated that body shape divergence between riverine and lacustrine populations persisted even if the phylogenies were considered and that body shape evolved rapidly irrespective of phylogeny. Sexual dimorphism in body shape was also evident, but the degree of dimorphism did not significantly differ between riverine and lacustrine populations after phylogenetic corrections, suggesting that sexual selection may not substantially contribute to geographical variations in body shape. Overall, these results indicate that the deep-elongated body shape divergence of the O. woworae species group evolved locally in response to habitat environments, such as water currents, and that a thorough taxonomic reexamination of the O. woworae species group may be necessary.