Phylogeny of the túngara frog genus Engystomops (= Physalaemus pustulosus species group; Anura: Leptodactylidae).

Full Abstract

We present a phylogeny of the Neotropical genus Engystomops (= Physalaemus pustulosus species group) based on sequences of approximately 2.4 kb of mtDNA, (12S rRNA, valine-tRNA, and 16S rRNA) and propose a phylogenetic nomenclature. The phylogeny includes all described taxa and two unnamed species. All analyses indicate that Engystomops is monophyletic and contains two basal allopatric clades. Clade I (Edentulus) includes E. pustulosus and the Amazonian E. petersi + E. cf. freibergi. Clade II (Duovox) includes all species distributed in W Ecuador and NW Peru. Brevivox, a clade of small-sized species is strongly supported within Duovox. Populations of Engystomops pustulosus fall into two well-supported clades, each of which occupies two disjunct portions of the species range. Overall, our phylogeny is congruent with most previous hypotheses. This study is among the few published species-level phylogenies of Neotropical amphibians derived from molecular datasets. A review of the proportion of new species detected by similar studies suggests that the increasing use of molecular techniques will lead to the discovery of a vast number of species of Neotropical amphibians.

Author information

Author/s: Ron, Santiago R (SR); Santos, Juan C (JC); Cannatella, David C (DC);

Affiliation: Museo de Zoología, Centro de Biodiversidad y Ambiente, Escuela de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Av. 12 de Octubre 1076 y Roca, Aptdo. 17-01-2184, Quito, Ecuador. sron(-atsign-)mail.utexas.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Journal: Molecular phylogenetics and evolution (Mol Phylogenet Evol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-May; vol 39 (issue 2) : pp 392-403

Dates: Created 2006/04/21; Completed 2006/07/27; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 16446105, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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