The herbivorous fish family Kyphosidae (Teleostei: Perciformes) represents a recent radiation from higher latitudes

Aim: Herbivorous reef fishes are considered to have difficulty digesting plant material at extratropical temperatures, and are thus largely restricted to tropical waters where they are thought to have evolved. However, the herbivorous Kyphosidae, with both temperate and tropical species, provides an ideal opportunity to test this view. Previous studies have resolved the taxonomy and distribution patterns of all species. Here, we use a calibrated phylogeny to analyse the age, geographical origin and pattern of diversification of kyphosids to determine their origins in space and time, and thus refine hypotheses on the evolutionary origins of herbivory in reef fishes.

Location: Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Western Australia.

Methods: The age and geographic origin of Kyphosidae were determined by incorporating fossil calibrations and species distributions onto a phylogeny of all extant species based on fragments from mitochondrial markers and three nuclear markers, and...