Abstract
Phylogenetic analyses, using 482 bp of the mitochondrial 16S rDNA and 461 bp of the control region of 16 Diplodus species and Oblada melanura, Pagellus bogaraveo and Pagellus acarne , all close relatives of Diplodus , identified the two representatives of Pagellus as the sister group of Diplodus. Oblada melanura was confirmed as the sister taxon of D. puntazzo , despite its different dental morphology and ecology. Within the genus Diplodus , three clades were identified, the first containing D. annularis and D. bellottii , the second D. vulgaris and D. prayensis , and the third comprising three subclades. These were formed by O. melanura clustering with D. puntazzo, D. fasciatus with D. cervinus , and by the Diplodus sargus sub‐species assemblage which also included the West Atlantic taxa D. argenteus, D. bermudensis, D. holbrooki , and the Red Sea endemic D. noct. All members of the D. sargus assemblage were genetically closely related. Among them, D. sargus lineatus from the Cape Verde islands was resolved as most ancestral branch, pointing to the possibility that the diversification and spread of the D. sargus assemblage originated in this region. The hypothesis of stepwise speciation following colonization events within the D. sargus complex is fully supported by phylogenetic reconstruction.