Plio-Pleistocene sea-level changes drive speciation of freshwater fishes in north-western Australia

Abstract

AIM: Despite the influence of sea‐level changes on biogeographic/phylogeographic patterns in freshwater ecosystems being well documented, studies that explicitly link the influence of sea‐level change with speciation are rare. We aim to test the hypothesis that sea‐level changes during the Pliocene and Pleistocene have driven speciation in north‐western Australia's (NWA’s) largest freshwater fish family, Terapontidae, building upon a body of evolutionary literature focussed on the family. LOCATION: North‐western Australian rivers including those draining the Kimberley Plateau. TAXON: Grunters (Family: Terapontidae, Genera: Hannia, Hephaestus, Leiopotherapon, Syncomistes). METHODS: A GIS was ..