Ecological divergence and synchronous Pleistocene diversification in the widespread South American butter frog complex

Made available in DSpace on 2022-04-29T08:38:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2022-04-01 ASCRS Research Foundation Phylogeographic studies primarily focus on the major role of landscape topography in driving lineage diversification. However, populational phylogeographic breaks may also occur as a result of either niche conservatism or divergence, in the absence of geographic barriers to gene flow. Furthermore, these two factors are not mutually exclusive and can act in concert, making it challenging to evaluate their relative importances on explaining genetic variation in nature. Herein, we use sequences of two mitochondrial and four nuclear genes to investigate the timing and diversification patterns of species pertaining to the Leptodactylus latrans complex, which harbors four morphologically cryptic species with broad distributions across environmental gradients in eastern South America. The origin of this species complex dates back to the late Miocene (ca. 5.5 Mya), but most diversification events occurred synchronically during the late Pleistocene likely as the result of ecological divergence driven by Quaternary climatic oscillations. Further, significant patterns of environmental niche divergences among species in the L. latrans complex imply that ecological isolation is the primary mode of genetic diversification, mostly because phylogenetic breaks are associated with environmental transitions rather than topographic barriers at both species and populational scales. We provided new insights about diversification patterns and processes within a species complex of broadly and continuously distributed group of frogs along South America. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas Universidade Federal da Paraíba–UFPB Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza, Cidade Universitária Paraiba Earth and Environmental Sciences Ecology and Evolution Rutgers University-Newark, 195 University Ave Instituto de Biociências Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista Campus Rio Claro Departamento de Biodiversidade e Centro de Aquicultura (CAUNESP) Laboratório de Herpetologia, Cx. Postal 199 São Paulo Instituto de Biología Subtropical (IBS CONICET-UNaM) Laboratorio de Genética Evolutiva Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Universidad Nacional de Misiones, Félix de Azara 1552 Misiones Laboratório de Anfíbios e Répteis (LAR) Departamento de Botânica e Zoologia da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Campus Universitário. Lagoa Nova Rio Grande do Norte Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista Campus Rio Claro Departamento de Biodiversidade e Centro de Aquicultura (CAUNESP) Laboratório de Herpetologia, Cx. Postal 199 São Paulo