Diversity and evolution in the amphibian genus Brachycephalus (Amphibia: Brachycephalidae)

• Grant number: 17/17357-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: February 01, 2018
• End date: January 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Sérgio Furtado dos Reis
• Grantee: Sérgio Furtado dos Reis
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: PRIANDA RIOS LABORDA ; Sergio Ivan Perez

Abstract

Brachycephalus are miniaturized amphibians whose body length is < 20 mm, which occur in the Atlantic Forest and range in distribution from the state of Bahia to the state of Santa Catarina. Most populations of Brachycephalus occur at 400 meters above sea level and this lower altitudinal limit induces allopatry between populations and species. A remarkable phenotypic trait of Brachycephalus associated with miniaturization is the degree of hyperossification of the skeleton, which may assume three conditions: hyperossified, partially hyperossified and non-hyperossified. At the macroevolutionary scale, the branching order of Brachycephalus has been estimated using mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences and the phylogeny revealed a basal trichotomy. Nevertheless, there appears to be an association between the three skeletal conditions and the molecular lineages. At the species level, the limits of species in Brachycephalus have been assessed for B. nodoterga only. In this project, two lines of inquiry will be pursued within the conceptual framework of the multispecies coalescent model. 1) At the macroevolutionary scale, we will incorporate five species not analyzed previously to estimate the species tree of Brachycephalus, combining gene trees from four mitochondrial genes and one nuclear gene. Our objective here is to attempt to resolve the trichotomy in the phylogeny of Brachycephalus. We will also assess whether there is an association between the three conditions of ossification of the skeleton and the lineages uncovered by species tree we will estimate for Brachycephalus. 2) At the species level, we will test hypotheses of species limits in population samples from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo traditionally assigned to B. ephippium. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

GONZALEZ, PAULA N.; VALLEJO-AZAR, MARIANA; ARISTIDE, LEANDRO; LOPES, RICARDO; DOS REIS, SERGIO F.; PEREZ, S. IVAN. ndocranial asymmetry in New World monkeys: a comparative phylogenetic analysis of morphometric dat. Brain Structure & Function, v. 227, n. 2, SI, AUG 2021. (17/17357-0)