Genetic and morphological evidence to split the Coris julis species complex (Teleostei: Labridae) into two siblingspecies: resurrection of Coris melanura (Lowe 1839) and redescription of Coris julis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Abstract

[eng] The genus Coris contains 28 valid species, most of them with an Indo-Pacific distributionand only two species recognized from the eastern Atlantic: Coris atlantica and C. julis.This last species has a large variability in its coloration, which caused that during thefirst half of XIX century the sexes were considered as different species. Two liverieshave been described for C. julis: (i) primary or “giofredi,” which corresponds to femalesand primary-phase males and is considered common for Atlantic and Mediterraneanpopulations; and (ii) the secondary or “julis” which corresponds to secondary-phasemales, which is different for Atlantic and Mediterranean populations. In this study wedemonstrate the existence of two sibling species within the C. julis species complex.Morphological and molecular analyses showed that this species complex is composedof two species: (i) C. julis, distributed mainly in the Mediterranean, from which thespecies was originally described; and (ii) C. melanura, a species described by Lowein 1839 which is resurrected here, mainly distributed in the eastern Atlantic andwestern Mediterranean. We also discuss the possible speciation event to understandthe contemporary distribution patterns of Coris species in the eastern Atlantic andMediterranean.