The relationships of the hyline tribe Dendropsophini remain poorly studied, with most published analyses dealing with few of the species groups of Dendropsophus. In order to test the monophyly of Dendropsophini, its genera, and the species groups currently recognized in Dendropsophus, we performed a total evidence phylogenetic analysis. The molecular dataset included sequences of three mitochondrial and five nuclear genes from 210 terminals, including 12 outgroup species, the two species of Xenohyla, and 93 of the 108 recognized species of Dendropsophus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZootaxa
August 2020
Elachistocleis is a Neotropical genus of microhylid frogs with 18 species, most of which occur east of the Andes in South America. Here, we present a new phylogeny of Gastrophryninae and describe and name a new species of Elachistocleis from southern Ecuador-the first to be found west of the Andes and also the first from Ecuador. Our phylogeny is based on DNA sequences of the mitochondrial genes 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, COI, and the nuclear genes BDNF, cmyc2, H3A, 28S, SIA1, and Tyr.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGeneral consensus emphasizes that no single biological process can explain the patterns of species' distributions and diversification in the Neotropics. Instead, the interplay of several processes across space and time must be taken into account. Here we investigated the phylogenetic relationships and biogeographic history of tree frogs in the Dendropsophus leucophyllatus species group (Amphibia: Hylidae), which is distributed across Amazonia and the Atlantic rainforests.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlopoglossidae is a family of Neotropical lizards composed of 23 species allocated in two genera (Alopoglossus and Ptychoglossus). There is a lack of knowledge about the phylogenetic relationships and systematics of this family. Published phylogenies that include alopoglossid species have very low taxon coverage within the family, and are usually based on limited character sampling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMolecular phylogenies have yielded strong support for many parts of the amphibian Tree of Life, but poor support for the resolution of deeper nodes, including relationships among families and orders. To clarify these relationships, we provide a phylogenomic perspective on amphibian relationships by developing a taxon-specific Anchored Hybrid Enrichment protocol targeting hundreds of conserved exons which are effective across the class. After obtaining data from 220 loci for 286 species (representing 94% of the families and 44% of the genera), we estimate a phylogeny for extant amphibians and identify gene tree-species tree conflict across the deepest branches of the amphibian phylogeny.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExpeditions to unexplored or little explored places are important for discovering new species and also for collecting new samples (including specimens and tissues for DNA sequencing ) that may help resolve a plethora of taxonomic problems. In the 19th century, several naturalists explored a number of localities in Amazonia, describing species for which type material was deposited, mostly, in European museums of natural history. Some of these types were lost or destroyed in World War II and recent expeditions have focused on sampling new material from the type localities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Phylogenet Evol
March 2019
Zootaxa
December 2018
We describe and name the second species of Phyzelaphryne (Brachycephaloidea, Eleutherodactylidae), from northwestern Brazilian Amazonia. Phyzelaphryne nimio sp. nov.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn recent years, major changes have been proposed for the phylogenetic relationships within the Gymnophthalmoidea, including the description of Alopoglossidae. Recent studies relied primarily on molecular data and have not accounted for evidence from alternative sources, such as morphology. In this study, we provide a detailed bone-by-bone description of the skull of Ptychoglossus vallensis and compare this species with other gymnophthalmoideans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChiasmocleis is the most species-rich genus of Neotropical microhylids. Herein, we provide the first comprehensive multilocus phylogeny for the genus, including all but 3 of the 34 recognized species and multiple individuals per species. We discuss cryptic speciation, species discovery, patterns of morphological evolution, and provide a historical biogeographic analysis to account for the current distribution of the genus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMitochondrial DNA A DNA Mapp Seq Anal
October 2018
The integration of approaches that allow the incorporation of stochasticity of gene histories with phylogenetic methods resulted in new approaches for the old issue of species delimitation. Nevertheless, coalescent methods seem problematic for taxa with large effective population size and shallow temporal diversification (like marine fishes). Here, we investigate the performance of single-locus (cytochrome oxidase 1, commonly used in DNA barcoding initiatives) methods for molecular species delimitation in snappers of Lutjaninae from the Western Atlantic and Pacific Eastern.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeloso et al. (2015: PELOSO) published a comprehensive phylogenetic study of the frog family Microhylidae, which resulted in the discovery that several taxa were not monophyletic. To remedy this, a series of nomenclatural changes were proposed (several generic synonymies and two new subfamilies named).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Leptolalax applebyi group of Asian leaf-litter frogs currently comprises four species of particularly small-bodied (<40 mm SVL) species distributed in the Central Highlands of Vietnam and northeastern Cambodia. In addition to their small size, the group is characterized by their morphological and genetic similarities, as well as their breeding habitat at headwaters of small mountain streams and seeps. A recent study suggested that at least two-thirds of the diversity of the group remained hidden within morphologically cryptic lineages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite considerable progress in unravelling the phylogenetic relationships of microhylid frogs, relationships among subfamilies remain largely unstable and many genera are not demonstrably monophyletic. Here, we used five alternative combinations of DNA sequence data (ranging from seven loci for 48 taxa to up to 73 loci for as many as 142 taxa) generated using the anchored phylogenomics sequencing method (66 loci, derived from conserved genome regions, for 48 taxa) and Sanger sequencing (seven loci for up to 142 taxa) to tackle this problem. We assess the effects of character sampling, taxon sampling, analytical methods and assumptions in phylogenetic inference of microhylid frogs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe Dendropsophus ozzyi sp. nov., a new species of treefrog, tentatively included in the Dendropsophus microcephalus Group and most notably diagnosed by the presence of pointed fingers and an advertisement call with a very high dominant frequency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe Allobatesflaviventris sp. nov., a medium-sized (SVL 16.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe Allobates grillisimilis from the northwestern region of the Rio Madeira-Rio Tapajós interfluve, state of Am-azonas, Brazil. The new taxon is characterized by its small snout-to-vent length (12.8-16.
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