Nature 368, 629 - 632 (14 April 1994); doi:10.1038/368629a0

Sympatric speciation suggested by monophyly of crater lake cichlids

Ulrich K. Schliewen^*†, Diethard Tautz^* & Svante Pääbo^*

^* Institut für Zoologie, Postfach 202136, D-80021 München, Germany
^† Max-Planck-lnstitut für Verhaltensphysiologie, D-82319 Seewiesen, Germany

THE existence of sympatric speciation—that populations diverge into species in the absence of physical or ecological barriers—is controversial^1–6. The East African Great Lakes harbour hundreds of cichlid species representing only a few monophyletic lineages^7,8, although palaeolimnological evidence^9–11 and local restrictions on species distribution¹² suggest that speciation in these lakes could have been allopatric^13,14. The case for sympatry in restricted areas of Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika is stronger^15–17 but not unassailable. A better case might be made for cichlid species flocks in small, ecologically monotonous crater lakes. Here we present a mitochondrial DNA analysis of cichlid species flocks endemic to two such lakes in Cameroon. The results suggest that the flocks in each lake are monophyletic: the implication being that each lake was colonized once only, the size and shape of each lake being such that subsequent diversification would have been sympatric.

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