3.2 | Population structure of Sinocyclocheilusin the central Yunnan region
The maximum likelihood (ML) tree revealed three main branches within the
genus Sinocyclocheilus , the first of which included theSinocyclocheilus population of Hunan Province (HN). The second
branch included the Sinocyclocheilus population of Guangxi
Province (GX), and split into two subbranches, population I (GX i) and
population II (GX ii). The third branch included theSinocyclocheilus populations of Yunnan Province (YN), which
included the Mile City population (YN-ML), Qujing City population
(YN-QJ) and the Dianchi and Fuxian lake population (YN-DF)(seeAppendix S1, Fig S1 ). These findings were supported by the PCA.
The ADMIXTURE-based analysis of population structure also generated
similar results. The error values were lowest (0.33) when clusters were
set to K=4, and all populations converged to four clusters with the
highest average likelihood value (Fig. 2) . The YN population
displayed more admixed and diversified genetic components than the three
other populations. Collectively, the results reveal the geographical
distribution of Sinocyclocheilus within the Yunnan-Guizhou
Plateau. Since the Sinocyclocheilus population of HN and GX has
been well discussed (Mao et al., 2021), this paper will focus on the
central Yunnan region, and only a supplement to the population structure
of Sinocyclocheilus in Hunan and Guangxi Province.