Abstract
The Amazon basin harbours the most diverse assemblage of freshwater fishes in the world, including a disproportionately large number of marine-derived groups, such as stingrays, flatfishes, pufferfishes, and anchovies1. On the basis of our molecular phylogenetic analysis of South American freshwater stingrays (Potamotrygonidae), coupled with reconstructions of Amazonian palaeogeography, we propose that some marine-derived freshwater fish species originated as a by-product of massive movements of marine waters into the upper Amazon region during the Early Miocene epoch, 15-23 million years ago.
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Lovejoy, N., Bermingham, E. & Martin, A. Marine incursion into South America. Nature 396, 421–422 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/24757
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/24757
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