Phylogenetic Endemism and Comparative Phylogeography of the Brazilian Amazon Herpetofauna

• Grant number: 17/08357-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: January 01, 2018
• End date: November 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Miguel Trefaut Urbano Rodrigues
• Grantee: Sérgio Marques de Souza
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/07090-1 - Phylogenetic Endemism and Comparative Phylogeography of the Brazilian Amazon Herpetofauna, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

How and when did the evolution of biological megadiversity take place in the Amazon? This is one of the most contentious issues in neotropical biogeography, being discussed since the XIX century. Regarding reptiles and amphibians, one of the few consensual ideas on this subject is that the taxonomic diversity as currently described is underestimated. Phylogeographic analyses highlighted strong genetic structure and cryptic diversity in several organisms previous classifid as widespread species throughout the biome. Unfortunately, this new layer of diversity is not being incorporated in measures of regional biological diversity or conservation strategies, mainly because genetic lineages are hardly described as distinct species. In this sense, measures of Phylogenetic Diversity (PD) and Phylogenetic Endemism (PE) reveal and project the evolutionary singularity onto geographical space, bypassing the asymmetries between taxonomy and evolutionary biology, and introducing the cryptic diversity in conservation programs. Therefore, one of the goals of this proposal is to reveal PE patterns in Brazilian Amazon, through the compilation of published molecular data and the generation of new data for 16 herpetofauna species. Besides reveal patterns, we also intend to clarify the historical processes responsible for herpetofaunal diversification in the Amazon, performing a comparative phylogeography analysis using two cryptic species complex, Chatogekko amazonicus e Loxopholis spp, using Next Generation DNA sequencing protocols (ddRADseq) and applying a statistical phylogeography framework, enabling a robust test of the various hypotheses already proposed to explain the emergence and maintenance of the Amazonian biodiversity.

Scientific publications

(6)

(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)

RECODER, RENATO SOUSA; DAL VECHIO, FRANCISCO; MARQUES-SOUZA, SERGIO; TEIXEIRA, JR., MAURO; SILVA-DA-SILVA, MAIUME; SANTOS, JR., ALFREDO P.; RIBEIRO, SIRIA; BARRIO-AMOROS, CESAR; RODRIGUES, MIGUEL TREFAUT. Geographic variation and taxonomy of red-tailed Gymnophthalmus (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from Amazonian Savannas. Zootaxa, v. 4497, n. 1, p. 61-81, OCT 8 2018. (13/50297-0, 03/10335-8, 12/09463-0, 17/08357-6)

MARQUES-SOUZA, SERGIO; MACHADO PELLEGRINO, KATIA C.; BRUNES, TULIANA OLIVEIRA; CARNAVAL, ANA CAROLINA; DAMASCENO, ROBERTA PACHECO; DE OLIVEIRA BORGES, MANOELA LIMA; GALLARDO, CARLOS CANDIA; RODRIGUES, MIGUEL TREFAUT. Hidden in the DNA: How multiple historical processes and natural history traits shaped patterns of cryptic diversity in an Amazon leaf-litter lizard Loxopholis osvaldoi (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae). Journal of Biogeography, v. 47, n. 2, DEC 2019. (17/08357-6, 11/50146-6, 12/10163-1, 13/22477-3)

MARQUES-SOUZA, SERGIO; PELLEGRINO, KATIA CRISTINA M.; BRUNES, TULIANA O.; ROJAS-RUNJAIC, FERNANDO J. M.; RODRIGUES, MIGUEL TREFAUT. A molecular perspective on the systematics and distribution of Loxopholis lizards in South and Central America, with advances on the biogeography of the tribe Ecpleopodini (Gymnophthalmidae: Squamata). SYSTEMATICS AND BIODIVERSITY, v. 20, n. 1, p. 14-pg., 2022-12-31. (17/08357-6, 11/50146-6, 12/10163-1, 16/03146-4)

RIVERA, DANIELLE; PRATES, IVAN; FIRNENO, JR., THOMAS J.; RODRIGUES, MIGUEL TREFAUT; CALDWELL, JANALEE P.; FUJITA, MATTHEW K.. hylogenomics, introgression, and demographic history of South American true toads (Rhinella. Molecular Ecology, v. 31, n. 3, DEC 2021. (13/50297-0, 12/15754-8, 03/10335-8, 17/08357-6, 11/50206-9, 11/50146-6)

RECODER, RENATO SOUSA; MARQUES-SOUZA, SERGIO; SILVA-SOARES, THIAGO; RAMIRO, CAROLINA NISA; CASTRO, THIAGO MARCIAL; RODRIGUES, MIGUEL TREFAUT. Morphological variation and genealogical discordance in Caatinga sand lizards Calyptommatus Rodrigues 1991 (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) with the description of a new species. Zootaxa, v. 5129, n. 3, p. 25-pg., 2022-04-28. (17/08357-6, 11/50146-6, 17/10000-9)

RIVERA, DANIELLE; PRATES, IVAN; CALDWELL, JANALEE P.; RODRIGUES, MIGUEL TREFAUT; FUJITA, MATTHEW K.. Testing assertions of widespread introgressive hybridization in a clade of neotropical toads with low mate selectivity (Rhinella granulosa species group). HEREDITY, v. 130, n. 1, p. 8-pg., 2022-11-05. (03/10335-8, 13/50297-0, 11/50206-9, 17/08357-6, 11/50146-6, 12/15754-8)