Patterns of Endemism and Species Richness in Malagasy Cophyline Frogs Support a Key Role of Mountainous Areas for Speciation

Cophyline narrow-mouthed frogs (Anura: Microhylidae) are a diverse endemic radiation of Madagascar. Cophylines contain a high proportion of range restricted species and constitute a good model system to understand patterns of evolutionary diversification in tropical ecosystems. We combine spatial an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolution 2008-08, Vol.62 (8), p.1890-1907
Main Authors: Wollenberg, Katharina C, Vieites, David R, van der Meijden, Arie, Glaw, Frank, Cannatella, David C, Vences, Miguel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amphibia
Amphibians
Animals
Anura
Anura - genetics
Anura - physiology
Bayes Theorem
Biodiversity
Biological Evolution
Biological taxonomies
Biological variation
Cophylinae
Datasets
Ecosystem
Endemic species
Evolution
Evolutionary biology
Freshwater
Frogs
hotspot
Madagascar
Microhylidae
Models, Biological
Models, Genetic
Models, Theoretical
Multivariate Analysis
Original s
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
phylogeography
Speciation
Species Specificity
Stochastic Processes
Taxa
Vegetation
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Summary:Cophyline narrow-mouthed frogs (Anura: Microhylidae) are a diverse endemic radiation of Madagascar. Cophylines contain a high proportion of range restricted species and constitute a good model system to understand patterns of evolutionary diversification in tropical ecosystems. We combine spatial and phylogenetic analyses for a near-complete taxon sample to test competing explanations for patterns of species richness (SR) and endemism. Our reconstruction of the phylogeny of cophylines indicates the presence of 22 new species and several instances of nonmonophyly. We found a strong historical signal in current cophyline ranges indicating a high degree of spatial niche conservatism in clade diversification, with clades occurring in the North of Madagascar constituting the most derived in the phylogeny. We identified six positively correlated centers of SR and endemism that can neither be explained by stochastic models such as elevational or latitudinal mid-domain effect, nor by low-elevation river catchments. Instead, the locations of these centers in areas spanning a high altitudinal range in combination with specific climatic parameters support a key role of mountainous areas for speciation of these anurans, although we cannot exclude an influence of habitat loss due to human impact. High conservation priority is ascribed to these areas.
ISSN:0014-3820
1558-5646
DOI:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2008.00420.x