Multilocus Phylogeography and Species Delimitation in the Cumberland Plateau Salamander, Plethodon kentucki: Incongruence among Data Sets and Methods.

Species are a fundamental unit of biodiversity, yet can be challenging to delimit objectively. This is particularly true of species complexes characterized by high levels of population genetic structure, hybridization between genetic groups, isolation by distance, and limited phenotypic variation. Previous work on the Cumberland Plateau Salamander, Plethodon kentucki, suggested that it might constitute a species complex despite occupying a relatively small geographic range.

Detecting cryptic species in phylogeographic studies: speciation in the California Slender Salamander, Batrachoseps attenuatus.

A study of DNA sequence variation in the plethodontid salamander Batrachoseps attenuatus by Martínez-Solano et al. (2007) revealed more species than acknowledged by the authors. They sequenced 677 base pairs of the cytochrome-b mitochondrial gene in 178 individuals from 123 populations of the currently recognized species B.

Concurrent speciation in the eastern woodland salamanders (Genus Plethodon): DNA sequences of the complete albumin nuclear and partial mitochondrial 12s genes.

Salamanders of the North American plethodontid genus Plethodon are important model organisms in a variety of studies that depend on a phylogenetic framework (e.g., chemical communication, ecological competition, life histories, hybridization, and speciation), and consequently their systematics has been intensively investigated over several decades.

Lineage-specific differences in evolutionary mode in a salamander courtship pheromone.

Functionally equivalent genes may evolve heterogeneously across closely related taxa as a consequence of lineage-specific selective pressures. Such disparate evolutionary modes are especially prevalent in genes that encode postcopulatory reproductive proteins, presumably as a result of sexual selection. We might therefore expect genes that mediate reproduction prior to insemination to evolve in a similar manner.