Of Least Concern? Systematics of a cryptic species complex: Limnonectes kuhlii (Amphibia: Anura: Dicroglossidae)

Several recent studies have demonstrated that a tremendous amount of biological diversity can be masked by phenotypic similarity in a cryptic species complex. It has been speculated that the widely distributed and relatively common Southeast Asian frog Limnonectes kuhlii represents a complex of mult...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 2010-09, Vol.56 (3), p.991-1000
Main Author: McLeod, David S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amphibia
Animals
Anura
Anura - classification
Anura - genetics
Asia, Southeastern
Asian
Bayes Theorem
Bayesian analysis
Biological diversity
Cryptic species
Diversity
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
Evolution
Evolution, Molecular
Evolutionary
Frogs
Genes
Genetic Variation
Genetics, Population
Geography
Haplotypes
Likelihood Functions
Limnonectes
Limnonectes kuhlii
Models, Genetic
Phylogeny
Sequence Alignment
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Similarity
Southeast Asia
Species complex
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Summary:Several recent studies have demonstrated that a tremendous amount of biological diversity can be masked by phenotypic similarity in a cryptic species complex. It has been speculated that the widely distributed and relatively common Southeast Asian frog Limnonectes kuhlii represents a complex of multiple species. The phylogeny within the L. kuhlii Complex is estimated in this study based on approximately 2400 bp of mtDNA data (tRNA Phe, 12S, tRNA Val, and 16S genes) from 244 individuals representing multiple populations from throughout the known distribution of this anuran. Analyses are conducted using parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. The results suggest that what has been recognized historically as a single species is a complex of more than 22 distinct evolutionary lineages, 16 of which are currently subsumed under the nominal L. kuhlii. Several cases of sympatric lineages were detected, and in all cases co-occurring lineages were not each other’s closest relatives.
ISSN:1055-7903
1095-9513
DOI:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.04.004