Phylogenetic relationships among the subfamily Coregoninae as revealed by mitochondrial DNA restriction analysis

Mitochondria1 DNA (mtDNA) restriction analysis was used to assess phylogenetic patterns among 21 taxa of the subfamily Coregoninae. The genus Prosopium formed a very distinct group differing by 10% (sequence divergence estimate) from other species. Coregonus and Stenodus species were closely related, diverging by sequence divergence estimates of less than 5.6%. These species split into two major sister groups. One comprised all 'true whitefish' (subgenus Coregonus ) and four cisco species (subgenus Leucichrhys ). The most distant species within this assemblage was the Acadian whitefish ( C. huntsmani ). The other group included all other cisco species and also the Inconnu ( Stenodus leucichthys ). These results supported a polyphyletic origin of the ciscoes, and did not support Stenodus as a sister taxon of the genus Coregonus . The levels of sequence divergence observed suggested that most extant coregonines radiated during the Pleistocene.