Mitochondrial genome primers for Lake Malawi cichlids.

Resolving the evolutionary history of rapidly diversifying lineages like the Lake Malawi Cichlid Flock demands powerful phylogenetic tools. Although this clade of over 500 species of fish likely diversified in less than two million years, the availability of extensive sequence data sets, such as complete mitochondrial genomes, could help resolve evolutionary patterns in this group. Using a large number of newly developed primers, we generated whole mitochondrial genome sequences for 14 Lake Malawi cichlids.

Nine exceptional radiations plus high turnover explain species diversity in jawed vertebrates.

The uneven distribution of species richness is a fundamental and unexplained pattern of vertebrate biodiversity. Although species richness in groups like mammals, birds, or teleost fishes is often attributed to accelerated cladogenesis, we lack a quantitative conceptual framework for identifying and comparing the exceptional changes of tempo in vertebrate evolutionary history. We develop MEDUSA, a stepwise approach based upon the Akaike information criterion for detecting multiple shifts in birth and death rates on an incompletely resolved phylogeny.

Osteology and skeletal development of Phyllomedusa vaillanti (Anura: Hylidae: Phyllomedusinae) and a comparison of this arboreal species with a terrestrial member of the genus.

Few descriptions of skeletal development and morphology exist for neobatrachians, despite their abundance and diversity. Herein, the adult morphologies of Phyllomedusa vaillanti and P. atelopoides are described and compared and the ontogeny of the larval skeleton of P.