Electrophoretic evidence for relationships and differentiation among members of the percid subgenus Microperca

Forty-seven allelic products were electrophoretically resolved at 23 presumptive loci in 10 populations of fishes of the percid subgenus Microperca, genus Etheostoma. Phenetic and cladistic analyses of these genetic data support the recognition of two species-groups within the subgenus: (a) E. fonticola and E. proeliare; (b) E. microperca, confirming previously described morphological interpretations. Additional morphologically based hypotheses receiving genetic support include: (c) recognizing E. proeliare as the most primitive and E. microperca as the most advanced species of the subgenus; and (d) assigning derived status to the differentiation exhibited by the Ozark populations of E. microperca. Etheostoma fonticola is more advanced on the genetic level than had been morphologically ascertained.