The historical ecology of yellow perch ( Perca flavescens[Mitchill]) and their parasites

• Published in: Journal of Biogeography
• Main Authors: Carney, Joseph P., Dick, Terry A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2000
• Subjects: Burton; North Atlantic; Beringia
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00511.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1046%2Fj.1365-2699.2000.00511.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2000.00511.x

Abstract Aim To determine the origins of the host–parasite association between among yellow perch ( Perca flavescens [Mitchill]) and the parasites Crepidostomum cooperi Hopkins, Proteocephalus pearsei La Rue and Urocleidus adspectus Beverly Burton. Of secondary interest are the parasites Bunodera luciopercae (Muller) and Proteocephalus percae (Muller) predictably associated with the Eurasian perch. Location The areas considered are the Holarctic, since the upper‐Cretaceous, and contemporary North America. Methods Published and new information from host and parasite phylogenies, palaeontology, palaeogeography and plate tectonics and host biology is incorporated to assess the origins of yellow perch and several of its parasites. This information is used to determine the origins for these host–parasite associations. Results Cladistic analysis suggests a Laurasian origin for Percidae and Perca , and that Perca is sister to the other genera in the family. Parasite phylogenies support a North American origin for the three species associated with yellow perch and a Laurasian origin for B . luciopercae . Proteocephalus pearsei and P . percae are not sister taxa. The fossil record for Perca dates to the Miocene in Europe and the Pleistocene in North America. North America and Europe were connected across the North Atlantic since at least the upper Cretaceous with separation complete by the Miocene. Europe was separated from Asia by the Obik Sea from the late Cretaceous until the Oligocene. Western cordillera orogeny and its accompanying high rates of water flow and Pleistocene glaciation represent barriers to Perca dispersal. Main conclusions The origin of Perca in North America dates at least to the late Oligocene when North America and Europe were connected across the North Atlantic and Europe and Asia were separate landmasses, and does not result from Pleistocene dispersal across Beringia from Asia. The present disjunction of Perca species in North America and Europe is due to the vicariant separation of North America ...