Phylogenetic relationships among four new complete mitogenome sequences of Pelophylax (Amphibia: Anura) from the Balkans and Cyprus.

We present the full-length mitogenome sequences of four European water frog species:Pelophylax cypriensis, P. epeiroticus, P. kurtmuelleriandP. shqipericus. The mtDNA size varied from 17,363 to 17,895 bp, and its organization with theLPTFtRNA gene cluster preceding the 12 S rRNA gene displayed the typical Neobatrachian arrangement. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference revealed a well-resolved mtDNA phylogeny of seven EuropeanPelophylaxspecies. The uncorrectedp-distance for amongPelophylaxmitogenomes was 9.6 (range 0.01–0.13). Most divergent was theP. shqipericusmitogenome, clustering with the “P. lessonae” group, in contrast to the other three newPelophylaxmitogenomes related to the “P. bedriagae/ridibundus” lineage. The new mitogenomes resolve ambiguities of the phylogenetic placement ofP. cretensisandP. epeiroticus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]