Diversification and morphological evolution of species of the genus Oreobates (Anura, Craugastoridae)

• Grant number: 19/09537-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: July 29, 2019
• End date: January 28, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Morphology of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Célio Fernando Baptista Haddad
• Grantee: Ana Paula Motta Vieira
• Supervisor: Rafe Brown
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Kansas, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/08488-3 - Phylogeny, Morphological Evolution, and Diversification of Oreobates (Amphibia, Anura, Craugastoridae), BP.DR

Abstract

The genus Oreobates is widely distributed in tropical South America across a disparate and diverse array of ecoregions and shows interesting morphological and ecological diversity. Traits of species inhabiting similar environments support the idea that convergent evolution is behind several of the observed recurrent patterns of morphological variation and evolutionary inferences based on this group of frogs provide novel insights into which historical factors have provided ecological opportunity and which ecomorphological traits indicate potentially adaptive processes. The general goal of this project is to understand the observed patterns of morphological variation in species of Oreobates and its relatives and infer historical factors responsible of ecomorphological and ecoregional diversity in the group. We aim to answer the following general questions: How is the morphology related to habitat? Is body shape more similar among species from the same habitat even if they belong to different clades in Oreobates? What was the temporal and biogeographical scenario within which species diversified? How was the occupation of the wide altitudinal range where species occur? Which regions act as source and/or sink for other regions? Morphological and morphometric characters will be evaluated for species of Oreobates and its relatives. Eight morphometric measurements will be taken for adult females to explore the putative morphological adaptations. Morphological characters (e.g. tympanum, shape of hand tubercles, and shape of nasals) will be scored in order to study character evolution in the group. Defined biogeographicrange and habitat type will be assigned to each species. Analyses of data include Ancestral area and habitat estimation, MANOVA, ANOVA, and Phylogenetic principal components analysis (PCA). (AU)