High Levels of Diversity Uncovered in a Widespread Nominal Taxon: Continental Phylogeography of the Neotropical Tree Frog Dendropsophus minutus

Author(s):Show less -

Gehara, Marcelo ^{[1, 2]} ; Crawford, Andrew J. ^{[3, 4]} ; Orrico, Victor G. D. ^[5] ; Rodriguez, Ariel ^[1] ; Loetters, Stefan ^[6] ; Fouquet, Antoine ^[7] ; Barrientos, Lucas S. ^[3] ; Brusquetti, Francisco ^{[8, 9]} ; De la Riva, Ignacio ^[10] ; Ernst, Raffael ^[11] ; Gagliardi Urrutia, Giuseppe ^[12] ; Glaw, Frank ^[13] ; Guayasamin, Juan M. ^[14] ; Hoelting, Monique ^[11] ; Jansen, Martin ^[15] ; Kok, Philippe J. R. ^[16] ; Kwet, Axel ^[17] ; Lingnau, Rodrigo ^[18] ; Lyra, Mariana ^[8] ; Moravec, Jiri ^[19] ; Pombal, Jr., Jose P. ^[20] ; Rojas-Runjaic, Fernando J. M. ^[21] ; Schulze, Arne ^[22] ; Senaris, J. Celsa ^[23] ; Sole, Mirco ^[24] ; Rodrigues, Miguel Trefaut ^[5] ; Twomey, Evan ^[25] ; Haddad, Celio F. B. ^[8] ; Vences, Miguel ^[1] ; Koehler, Joern ^[22]

Affiliation:Show less -

^[1] Tech Univ Carolo Wilhelmina Braunschweig, Inst Zool, Div Evolutionary Biol, Braunschweig - Germany

^[2] Univ Fed Rio Grande do Norte, Ctr Biociencias, Posgrad Sistemat & Evolucao, BR-59072970 Natal, RN - Brazil

^[3] Univ Los Andes, Dept Ciencias Biol, Bogota - Colombia

^[4] Smithsonian Trop Res Inst, Panama City - Panama

^[5] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Zool, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[6] Univ Trier, Biogeog Dept, Trier - Germany

^[7] CNRS Guyane USR3456, Cayenne - French Guiana

^[8] Univ Estadual Paulista, Inst Biociencias, Dept Zool, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[9] Inst Invest Biol Paraguay, Asuncion - Paraguay

^[10] CSIC, Museo Nacl Ciencias Nat, E-28006 Madrid - Spain

^[11] Senckenberg Nat Hist Collect Dresden, Museum Zool, Dresden - Germany

^[12] Peruvian Ctr Biodivers & Conservat, Nanay, Iquitos - Peru

^[13] Zool Staatssammlung Munchen, Munich - Germany

^[14] Univ Tecnol Indoamer, Ctr Invest Biodiversidad & Cambio Climat BioCamp, Cotocollao, Quito - Ecuador

^[15] Senckenberg Gesell Nat Forsch, Frankfurt - Germany

^[16] Vrije Univ Brussel, Dept Biol, Amphibian Evolut Lab, Brussels - Belgium

^[17] German Herpetol Soc DGHT, Mannheim - Germany

^[18] Univ Tecnol Fed Parana, Francisco Beltrao, PR - Brazil

^[19] Natl Museum, Dept Zool, Prague - Czech Republic

^[20] Univ Fed Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacl, Dept Vertebrados, Rio De Janeiro - Brazil

^[21] Museo Hist Nat La Salle, Fdn La Salle Ciencias Nat, Caracas - Venezuela

^[22] Hess Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Darmstadt - Germany

^[23] Inst Venezolano Invest Cient, Ctr Ecol, Lab Ecol & Genet Poblac, Caracas - Venezuela

^[24] Univ Estadual Santa Cruz, Dept Ciencias Biol, Ilheus, BA - Brazil

^[25] E Carolina Univ, Dept Biol, Greenville, NC - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: PLoS One; v. 9, n. 9 SEP 10 2014.
• Web of Science Citations: 57

Abstract

Species distributed across vast continental areas and across major biomes provide unique model systems for studies of biotic diversification, yet also constitute daunting financial, logistic and political challenges for data collection across such regions. The tree frog Dendropsophus minutus (Anura: Hylidae) is a nominal species, continentally distributed in South America, that may represent a complex of multiple species, each with a more limited distribution. To understand the spatial pattern of molecular diversity throughout the range of this species complex, we obtained DNA sequence data from two mitochondrial genes, cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and the 16S rhibosomal gene (16S) for 407 samples of D. minutus and closely related species distributed across eleven countries, effectively comprising the entire range of the group. We performed phylogenetic and spatially explicit phylogeographic analyses to assess the genetic structure of lineages and infer ancestral areas. We found 43 statistically supported, deep mitochondrial lineages, several of which may represent currently unrecognized distinct species. One major clade, containing 25 divergent lineages, includes samples from the type locality of D. minutus. We defined that clade as the D. minutus complex. The remaining lineages together with the D. minutus complex constitute the D. minutus species group. Historical analyses support an Amazonian origin for the D. minutus species group with a subsequent dispersal to eastern Brazil where the D. minutus complex originated. According to our dataset, a total of eight mtDNA lineages have ranges > 100,000 km(2). One of them occupies an area of almost one million km(2) encompassing multiple biomes. Our results, at a spatial scale and resolution unprecedented for a Neotropical vertebrate, confirm that widespread amphibian species occur in lowland South America, yet at the same time a large proportion of cryptic diversity still remains to be discovered. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/12500-5 - Polymorphism and cryptic species: understanding South American biodiversity through the genus Dendropsophus Fitzinger, 1843
• Grantee: Victor Goyannes Dill Orrico
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 08/50928-1 - Speciation of frogs in high-altitude environments
• Grantee: Célio Fernando Baptista Haddad
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 03/10335-8 - Systematics and evolution of the herpetological fauna from Neotropical areas
• Grantee: Miguel Trefaut Urbano Rodrigues
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 11/50146-6 - Comparative phylogeography, phylogeny, paleoclimate modeling, and taxonomy of neotropical reptiles and amphibians
• Grantee: Miguel Trefaut Urbano Rodrigues
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 10/51071-7 - Species boundaries and evolutionary history of Leptodactylus marmoratus species group (Amphibia: Anura: Leptodactylidae): tracking big changes in Amazonia's past with small frogs and...
• Grantee: Miguel Trefaut Urbano Rodrigues
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants