Replicated functional evolution in cichlid adaptive radiations

Adaptive radiations highlight the mechanisms by which species and traits diversify and the extent to which these patterns are predictable. We used 1,110 high-speed videos of suction feeding to study functional and morphological diversification in 300 cichlid species from three African Great Lake radiations of varying ages (Victoria, Malawi and Tanganyika) and an older, spatially dispersed continental radiation in the Neotropics. Among African radiations, standing diversity was reflective of time. Morphological and functional variance in Lake Victoria, the youngest radiation, was a subset of that within Lake Malawi, which itself was nested within the older Tanganyikan radiation. However, functional diversity in Neotropical cichlids was often lower than in Lake Tanganyika, despite being much older. These two radiations broadly overlapped, but each diversified into novel trait spaces not found in the youngest lake radiations. Evolutionary rates across radiations were inversely related to a..., , , # Replicated Functional Evolution in Cichlid Adaptive Radiations [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h18931zsh](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h18931zsh) **Authors:** Christopher M. Martinez (UC Irvine, co-first author) Katherine A. Corn (UC Davis, Virginia Tech, Washington State University, co-first author) Sarah Williamson (UC Davis) Darien Satterfield (UC Davis) Alexus S. Roberts-Hugghis (UC Davis) Anthony Barley (Arizona State University–West Campus) Samuel R. Borstein (University of Michigan) Matthew D. McGee (Monash University) Peter C. Wainwright (UC Davis) **Contact (Correspondence authors):** [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail]) (C.M.M); [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail]) (K.A.C) **Study Summary:** We examine functional and morphological diversification in 300 cichlid species from three African Great Lake radiations (Victoria, Malawi and Tanganyika) and a continental radiation in the Neotropics. We show that trait variation in Lake Victoria, ...