A variety of theories and models of the evolution of parental care in animals usually consider the origin of various modes of parental care from an ancestral state of no care. Some models of transitions between the reproductive strategies suggest the probability of a reverse process associated with generalization of life history and the evolutionary loss of parental care (see e.g. Mank et al., 2005; Klug, Bonsall, 2010). In which groups of animals have such evolutionary transformations been purposefully investigated and shown? The fishes are most interesting for me.
Hello Dmitry; Do you have examples that got you thinking along this line? They might get me going too. What immediately comes to mind are the cichlid species swarms in the African Great Lakes. Cheers, Jim Des Lauriers
Hello Jim! Thanks for the answer.
I think this is quite possible in cichlids. It can be partly confirmed, for example, by detection of the evolutionary transitions from mouthbrooding to substrate-brooding.
I also believe that this is happening in anabantoid fishes, namely in the case of climbing perch and some others. Despite the fact that parental care occurs in a majority of anabantoid fishes, there still are several species for which such care is not known. On cladogram, these species by no means take the basal position but are surrounded by fishes providing care. I mentioned this in my article “Phylogenesis of reproductive strategies in labyrinth fishes (Anabantoidei) and their sisterly groups” :Article Phylogenesis of reproductive strategies in labyrinth fishes ...
.Unfortunately, it’s translated to English rather poorly, and if I had it to write again, I would do some things differently. But, anyway, I think the parsimony principle leads to the suggestion that parental care is a plesiomorphic trait in this group. In my opinion, this is evident in particular from the work of Rüber et al., 2006.
And, by the way, I’m very interested in opinion of Lukas Rüber and Hope Klug on the subject.
Dmitry; Can you recommend a paper that contains of phylogeny of the Anabantoidei? That might help me see the polarity of the various parental care patterns. Cheers, Jim Des Lauriers
You can find some speculations and overview in my paper mentioned above (Phylogenesis of reproductive strategies in labyrinth fishes (Anabantoidei) and their sister groups). Article Phylogenesis of reproductive strategies in labyrinth fishes ...
See also:
Rüber, L., Britz, R., Tan, H. H., Ng, P. K. L., Zardoya, R. (2004). Evolution of mouthbrooding and life-history correlates in the fighting fish genus Betta. Evolution, 58 (4), 799–813. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2004.tb00413.x
Rüber, L., Britz, R., Zardoya, R. (2006). Molecular phylogenetics and evolutionary diversification of Labyrinth fishes (Perciformes: Anabantoidei). Syst. Biol., 55 (3), 374-397. https://doi.org/10.1080/10635150500541664
Tate, M., McGoran, R. E., White, C. R., & Portugal, S. J. (2017). Life in a bubble: the role of the labyrinth organ in determining territory, mating and aggressive behaviours in anabantoids. Journal of Fish Biology, 91(3), 723–749. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.13357
Wu, F., He, D., Fang, G., & Deng, T. (2019). Into Africa via docked India: a fossil climbing perch from the Oligocene of Tibet helps solve the anabantid biogeographical puzzle. Science Bulletin, 64 (7), 455–463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2019.03.029
Best wishes! Dmitry
Hi, we show losses in amphibians. See our paper in Nature Communications, Furness & Capellini
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