Bramocharax, Gill, 1972

Node 275: Bramocharax View in CoL clade (86 / 98 / 42 / 48)

Genera Bramocharax and Oligosarcus .

The genera Bramocharax and Oligosarcus were related with Hollandichthys and Pseudochalceus in the hypothesis proposed by Mirande (2009), and the latter two genera were included in the Bramocharax clade. Hollandichthys and Pseudochalceus are instead related with the Rhoadsiinae in this study. Rosen (1972) considered Bramocharax to be monophyletic and derived from some species of Astyanax . However, a recent molecular analysis proposed that this genus is not monophyletic and that each species of Bramocharax is related with different populations of Astyanax from CentralAmerica ( Ornelas-García et al., 2008). The hypothesis of non-monophyly of Bramocharax is surprising giving the morphological resemblance between its species; however, the high congruence of that hypothesis with the geographical distribution of the clades proposed by Ornelas García et al. (2008) and the morphological plasticity of some characids make this hypothesis plausible. These authors proposed parallel evolution of “ Bramocharax ecomorphs” from different species or populations of Astyanax and suggested that “the morphotype of Bramocharax represents a recurrent trophic adaptation” ( Ornelas-García et al., 2008). Only one species of Bramocharax was analyzed in this study, and this analysis is insufficient to adequately test the hypothesis of the nonmonophyly of Bramocharax proposed by those authors. The close relationship between Bramocharax and Astyanax is not, however, supported by the present hypothesis, which instead relates Bramocharax with Oligosarcus . The inclusion of some Mesoamerican species of Astyanax with relatively high number of maxillary teeth, such as A. nasutus Meek and some morphologically conservative species of Bramocharax , such as B. bailey Rosen , would be useful to test the monophyly and position of this clade.

Synapomorphy:

1. Form of epioccipital bridge (5): (0> 1) depressed in its middle region.