The cichlid pharyngeal jaw novelty enhances evolutionary integration in the feeding apparatus

The modified pharyngeal jaw system of cichlid fishes is widely viewed as a key innovation that substantially facilitated the evolutionary exu- 1.70 berance of this iconic evolutionary radiation. We conduct comparative phylogenetic analyses of integration, disparity, and rate of evolution among feeding-related, skeletal structures in Neotropical cichlids and North American centrarchids, which lack the specialized pharyngeal jaw. Contrasting evolutionary patterns in these two continental radiations, we test a classic decoupling hypothesis. Specifically, we ask whether the modified pharyngeal jaws in cichlids resulted in enhanced evolutionary independence of the oral and pharyngeal jaws, leading to increased diversity of trophic structures. Contrary to this prediction, we find significantly stronger evolutionary integration between the oral and pharyngeal jaws in cichlids compared to centrarchids, although the two groups do not differ in patterns of integration within each jaw system. F..., Study specimens and anatomical measurements
We examined 85 Neotropical cichlid species (Family Cichlidae) and 30 North American sunfish species (Family Centrarchidae) with an average of 5 specimens per species. Cichlidae, being one of seven families where modified pharyngeal jaws are an independently derived synapomorphy for all known species, represents fishes with MPJs. Centrarchids were used to represent fishes lacking the MPJ, as all species exhibit a generalized pharyngeal jaw system that lacks all traits defining an MPJ (Fig. 1b). We used published morphological data for 218 cichlid specimens (Burress et al. 2020; Supplemental Table 1) and obtained an additional 170 and 129 adult cichlid and centrarchid specimens, respectively, from museum collections, collection trips, and the pet trade (Supplemental Table 1) in an effort to maximize the morphological diversity and generic coverage in both families. Within our dataset, we have 50% and 100% sampling of genera for Neotropical cichl...,
Version 3 (12/23/24) -- Updated trait data (ComboFin2_new.csv, Supplemental_Table_1_data.xlsx, SR_data_mean.csv)
Version 2 (7/21/23) -- Supplemental materials now include an R markdown file that outlines all analyses completed in R studios as well as two dataframes and a tree file to be uploaded when running analyses. This is in addition to the three supplemental files that were previously published. Please note that .csv files include species mean data for each trait. Also note that Supplemental Table 2 now includes information on which data columns in each .csv file correspond to which traits. Please see the README file for additional details about each published file.
Version 1 (6/21/23) -- Supplemental files include trait data for each specimen, definitions for all measurements taken and calculated, and PCA loadings.
, # The cichlid pharyngeal jaw novelty enhances evolutionary integration in the feeding apparatus

[https://doi.org/10.25338/B8ZP83](https://doi.org/10.25338/B8ZP83)

## Description of the data and file structure

#### File: Supplemental\_Table\_1\_data.xlsx

**Description:** Anatomical measurements made on cichlid and centrarchid feeding structures. We examined 388 specimens representing 85 Neotropical cichlid species and 129 specimens representing 30 North American sunfish species. Accession numbers are provided for specimens obtained from the following museums: Auburn University Museum of Natural History (AUM), the California Academy of Sciences (CAS/CAS-ICH), the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP), the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), the Florida Museum of Natural History (UF/FLMNH), the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS), the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science (LSUMZ/LSU), the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH/USNM), the...