Amphibians are increasingly threatened worldwide, but the availability of genomic resources that could be crucial for implementing informed conservation practices lags well behind that for other vertebrate groups. Here, we describe draft de novo genome, mitogenome, and transcriptome assemblies for the Neotropical leaf-frog Phyllomedusa bahiana native to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and Caatinga. We used a combination of PacBio long reads and Illumina sequencing to produce a 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Phylogenet Evol
February 2021
In this paper we present a phylogenetic analysis of the treefrogs of the Boana pulchella Group with the goals of (1) providing a rigorous test of its monophyly; (2) providing a test of relationships supported in previous studies; and (3) exploring the relationships of the several species not included in previous analyses. The analyses included>300 specimens of 37 of the 38 species currently included in the group, plus 36 outgroups, exemplars of the diversity of Boana and the other genera of the hylid tribe Cophomantini. The dataset included eight mitochondrial genes (12S, 16S, CytB, COI, ND1, tRNA, tRNA, and tRNA) and five nuclear genes (RHO, TYR, RAG-1, CXCR4, SIAH1).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeclines and extinctions are increasing globally and challenge conservationists to keep pace with biodiversity monitoring. Organisms leave DNA traces in the environment, e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe neotropical genus Physalaemus Fitzinger is currently composed by 48 species (Cardozo Pereyra 2018). Recently, a phylogenetic analysis aiming to investigate the internal relationships of the genus recovered two major clades, the Physalaemus cuvieri and P. signifer clades (Lourenço et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Phylogenet Evol
March 2019
Even though Brazil is the world leader in amphibian diversity, a significant part of its richness remains unknown or hidden under cryptic taxa. Here, we used model-based species delimitation in an integrative taxonomic approach, by gathering molecular and morphometric data to assess cryptic taxa within the monkey frogs Pithecopus rohdei, from the Atlantic Forest, and P. megacephalus, from campos rupestres ecosystem.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmphibian parasites of the Order Dermocystida (Ichthyosporea) are widespread pathogens known mainly from Europe and North America, which cause primarily a disease of skin and subcutaneous tissue in their hosts. The taxonomy of these organisms has been problematic given their conserved morphology, similar clinical disease and pathology. Currently recognized taxa belong to the three closely related genera, Amphibiocystidium, Amphibiothecum, and Rhinosporidium, whereas species of Dermocystidium and Sphaerothecum destruens include fish parasites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe Scinax pombali sp. n. a new species of treefrog of the Scinax catharinae group from Serra da Canastra, municipality of Capitólio (20°36'03''S, 46°17'34.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe studied the morphological variation of the nuptial pads using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in 26 species of phyllomedusines (Anura: Hylidae), representing the five currently recognized genera. All phyllomedusines have single nuptial pads with dark colored epidermal projections (EPs). Spine-shaped EPs occur in Cruziohyla calcarifer, Phrynomedusa appendiculata and in one species of Phasmahyla.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe leaf or monkey frogs of the hylid subfamily Phyllomedusinae are a unique group of charismatic anurans. We present a molecular phylogenetic analysis that includes 45 of the 60 species of phyllomedusines using up to 12 genes and intervening tRNAs. The aims were to gain a better understanding of the phylogenetic position of Phrynomedusa, test the monophyly and explore the relationships among several putative lineages (Hylomantis, the H.
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