Lepomis

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|13.5|0|Middle Miocene to recent}}

| image = lepomis_auritus.jpg

| image_caption = Redbreast sunfish (L. auritus), the type species of the genus

| taxon = Lepomis

| authority = Rafinesque, 1819{{Cof record|genid=974|title=Lepomis|access-date=19 May 2020}}

| type_species = Lepomis auritus

| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

| synonyms = {{collapsible list|bullets = true|title=List

|Allotis Hubbs, 1927

| Apomotis Rafinesque, 1819

| Bryttus Valenciennes, 1831

| Chaenobryttus Gill, 1864

| Erichaeta Jordan, 1877

| Eupomotis Gill & Jordan, 1877

| Glossoplites Jordan, 1876

| Helioperca Jordan, 1877

| Icthelis Rafinesque, 1820

| Pomotis Cuvier, 1829

| Pomotis Rafinesque, 1819

| Sclerotis Hubbs, 1927

| Telipomis Rafinesque, 1820

| Xenotis Jordan, 1877

| Xystroplites Jordan, 1877

}}

| synonyms_ref = {{Cof family| family=Centrarchidae | access-date=19 May 2020 }}

}}

Lepomis or true sunfish is a genus of North American freshwater fish from the family Centrarchidae in the order Centrarchiformes. The generic name Lepomis derives from the Greek {{lang|grc|λεπίς}} ("scale") and {{lang|grc|πῶμα}} ("cover", "plug", "operculum"). The genus' most recognizable species is perhaps the bluegill.

Some Lepomis species can grow to a maximum overall length of {{cvt|41|cm}}, though most average around {{cvt|10|-|20|cm}}. Many species are sought by anglers as popular panfishes, and large numbers are bred and stocked in lakes, rivers, ponds and wetlands. They are widely distributed throughout the freshwater lakes and river tributaries of the United States and Canada, and several species have been translocated and flourished around the world, even becoming pests. Aquarium trade in some Lepomis species is prohibited in Germany for this reason.Przybylski, Mirosław, and Grzegorz Zięba. "Invasive Alien Species Fact Sheet." NOBANIS – Invasive Alien Species Fact Sheet. NOBANIS. NOBANIS, 2011. Web. 5 Jan. 2015. [http://www.nobanis.org/files/factsheets/Lepomis_gibbosus.pdf Invasive Alien Species Fact Sheet - Lepomis gibbosus]

Lepomis species, among others, are sometimes referred to as bream, but the term is also used to refer explicitly to the unrelated European cypriniform fish of genus Abramis.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Bream |encyclopedia=Britannica |date=15 January 2020 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |location=Chicago, Illinois |url=https://www.britannica.com/animal/bream}}

Phylogeny

Phylogeny of all Lepomis species based on a partitioned mixed-model Bayesian analysis of a seven gene dataset of mitochondrial and nuclear gene DNA sequences by Near et al. (2005),{{cite journal|last1=Near, T. J., D. I. Bolnick, and P. C. Wainwright|title=Fossil calibrations and molecular divergence time estimates in centrarchid fishes (Teleostei: Centrarchidae)|journal=Evolution|date=2005|volume=59|issue=8|pages=1768–1782|doi=10.1111/j.0014-3820.2005.tb01825.x|pmid=16329246|doi-access=free}} expanded with fossil species. Subgenera in bold follow Bailey (1938):

File:Lepomis miniatus 387577819.jpg.]]

{{clade| style=font-size:85%;line-height:80%

|label1=

|1={{clade

|label1=genus Micropterus

|1={{clade}} 70 px

|label2=genus Lepomis

|2={{clade

|label1=clade I**

|1={{clade

|1=L. humilis 70 px

|2=L. macrochirus 70 px}}

|2={{clade

|label1=clade Chaenobryttus

|1={{clade

|1=L. gulosus 70 px

|2=L. kansasensis^†

|3=L. serratus^†}}

|label2=clade Apomotis

|2={{clade

|1=L. symmetricus

|2=L. cyanellus 70 px}} }} }}

|label2=clade II**

|2={{clade

|1={{clade

|label1=subgen. Lepomis

|1={{clade

|1=L. auritus 70 px

|label2=clade Icthelis

|2={{clade

|1=L. marginatus

|2={{clade

|1=L. peltastes*

|2=L. megalotis {{image flip|70 px}}|direction=vert}} }} }}

|label2=subgen. Eupomotis

|2={{clade

|1=L. gibbosus 70 px

|2={{clade

|1=L. microlophus 70 px

|label2=clade Bryttus

|2={{clade

|1=L. punctatus

|2=L. miniatus }} }} }} }}

|2=L. sp. A ^†***}}

}} }} }}

^*) L. peltastes was not originally included in the analysis by Near et al. (2005) and is included here based on commonly accepted sister relationship to L. megalotis.{{cite journal|last1=Bailey, R. M., W. C. Latta, and G. R. Smith|title=An atlas of Michigan fishes with keys and illustrations for their identification|journal=University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Miscellaneous Publications|date=2004|volume=192}}

^**) See section 'Evolutionary History' below for explanation.

^***) Phylogenetic position in clade II uncertain. See section 'Fossil record' for clarification.

Evolutionary history

File:Longear sunfish (Lepomis megalotis) and Redbreast sunfish (Lepomis auritus) (2688082582).jpg (L. megalotis) schooling with redbreast sunfish (L. auritus), in Texas]]

Phylogenetic reconstructions using a combination of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences calibrated with fossils to estimate ages of divergences suggests that the genus Lepomis diverged from the black bass in genus Micropterus, its sister taxon, about 25 million years ago.{{cite book|last1=S. J. Cooke, D. P. Philipp|title=Centrarchid fishes: diversity, biology, and conservation|date=2009|publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd.|isbn=9781405133425|pages=1–38}} The deepest split among currently living species of Lepomis is dated to ~15 million years ago and separates genus Lepomis into two clades: clade I that leads to the modern bluegill, orange-spotted, green, and warmouth sunfish, and a clade II that includes the modern long-ear, red-breasted, pumpkinseed, redear, and red-spotted sunfish (see section 'Phylogeny' above). The timing of this speciation event roughly corresponds with the Middle Miocene disruption that resulted in increased aridity on the plains of North America and a transition from savannah to grasslands,{{cite book|last1=National Research Council|title=Effects of Past Global Change on Life|date=1995|publisher=Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.|isbn=978-0-309-05127-9|pages=184–208|doi=10.17226/4762|pmid=25121267}} although the relevance of these environmental changes to the evolution of Lepomis is unclear.

Fossil record

No fossils unambiguously assigned to genus Lepomis are currently known from the putative stem-lineage that must have existed between 25 and 15 million years ago, spanning most of the early Miocene.

Currently, four extinct species of Lepomis are known from the fossil record:

There are at least two as yet undescribed fossil species of Lepomis that reach back to the middle Miocene:

†Lepomis sp. A consists of fragmentary fossils of its lower jaw from the Valentine Formation of Nebraska, dated to 13.5 million years ago, and shows morphological similarities to the modern Lepomis microlophus,{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=C.L.|title=Some Pliocene fishes from Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska|journal=Copeia|date=1962|volume=1962|issue=3|pages=505–520|doi=10.2307/1441172|jstor=1441172}} although its great age means that this species predates the divergence of any of the living species.
†Lepomis sp. B was found in deposits from the Ogallala Formation of Kansas, dated to 12 million years ago.{{cite journal|last1=Wilson|first1=R.L.|title=Systematics and faunal analysis of a Lower Pliocene vertebrate assemblage from Trego County, Kansas.|journal=Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology University of Michigan|date=1968|volume=22|pages=75–126}}

File:Lepomis kansasensis.jpg

Two other more recent fossil species appear to be closely allied to Lepomis gulosus, and indeed their earliest occurrence may be close to the divergence of the lineage leading to the modern warmouth from other species of Lepomis:

†Lepomis kansasensis lived 6.6 million years ago in the Ogallala Formation of Kansas, and had pterygoid teeth, indicating a close relationship to the warmouth.{{cite journal|last1=Hibbard|first1=C.W.|title=Two new sunfish of the family Centrarchidae from middle Pliocene Kansas|journal=University of Kansas Science Bulletin|date=1936|volume=24|pages=177–185}}
†Lepomis serratus is known from 3.4 to 2.0 million year old deposits in the Keim Formation of Nebraska, and also appears to be closely related to or ancestral to the warmouth on the basis of its preopercle.{{cite book|editor-first1=M. F.|editor-last1=Skinner|editor-first2=C. W.|editor-last2=Hibbard|title=Pleistocene Preglacial and Glacial Rocks and Faunas of North Central Nebraska|date=1972|publisher=American Museum of Natural History, New York|pages=40–54}}{{cite journal|last1=Bennett|first1=D.K.|title=Three Late Cenozoic fish faunas from Nebraska|journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science|date=1979|volume=82|issue=3|pages=146–177|doi=10.2307/3627406|jstor=3627406}}

Species

There are currently 13 recognized species in this genus:{{FishBase genus | genus = Lepomis| month = February | year = 2013}}

class="wikitable"

!Image

!Species

!Common name

!Distribution

Lepomis

Phylogeny

Evolutionary history

Fossil record

Species

References