Dr. Kevin Tang
Department of Biology
3507 Laclede Ave
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, Missouri 63103 USA
Voice: 314-977-3413
FAX: 314-977-3658
Email: tangkl@slu.edu
Taxa: Cypriniformes, Pomacentridae, Labroidei.
Character Types: Molecular data (mtDNA, nDNA), morphological data (osteology).
Currently, I am part of the Cypriniformes Tree of Life (CToL) project. This initiative is focused on the diversity and phylogenetic relationships of the order Cypriniformes, which includes many well-known fishes such as carps, goldfish, minnows, shiners, suckers, and loaches. This group also includes many economically and scientifically important taxa, like the zebrafish, Danio rerio. One of the primary goals of the CToL Project is to reconstruct a phylogeny for the entire order using 1000 representative taxa. I am involved in the molecular aspect of this project, collecting the sequence data that will be incorporated into this phylogeny. I am contributing to the sequencing of both mitochondrial (Cyt b, COI, ND4, ND5) and nuclear loci (RAG1, Rh), which are being done in this lab. These data will be combined with additional sequences collected by our CToL collaborators, sequences which include whole mitogenomes.
The focus of my dissertation research at the University of Kansas was using molecular and morphological evidence to elucidate the phylogeny of the perciform family Pomacentridae (anemonefishes, damselfishes), a widespread group of marine fishes which forms a major component of reef ecosystems. I continued this work as a postdoc at the American Museum of Natural History, where I expanded on my previous research on pomacentrids as well as extending my interests to other perciform groups.