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Phylogeographic analyses strongly suggest cryptic speciation in the giant spiny frog (Dicroglossidae: Paa spinosa) and interspecies hybridization in Paa.

ABSTRACT: Species identification is one of the most basic yet crucial issues in biology with potentially far-reaching implications for fields such as conservation, population ecology, and epidemiology. The widely distributed but threatened frog Paa spinosa has been speculated to represent a complex of multiple species. In this study, 254 individuals representing species of the genus Paa were investigated along the entire range of P. spinosa: 196 specimens of P. spinosa, 8 specimens of P. jiulongensis, 5 specimens of P. boulengeri, 20 specimens of P. exilispinosa, and 25 specimens of P. shini. Approximately 1333 bp of mtDNA sequence data (genes 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA) were used. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. BEAST was used to estimate divergence dates of major clades. Results suggest that P. spinosa can be divided into three distinct major lineages. Each major lineage totally corresponds to geographical regions, revealing the presence of three candidate cryptic species. Isolation and differentiation among lineages are further supported by the great genetic distances between the lineages. The bifurcating phylogenetic pattern also suggests an east-west dispersal trend during historic cryptic speciation. Dating analysis estimates that P. spinosa from Western China split from the remaining P. spinosa populations in the Miocene and that P. spinosa from Eastern China diverged from Central China in the Pliocene. We also found that P. exilispinosa from Mainland China and Hong Kong might have a complex of multiple species. After identifying cryptic lineages, we then determine the discrepancy between the mtDNA and the morphotypes in several individuals. This discrepancy may have been caused by introgressive hybridization between P. spinosa and P. shini.

SUBMITTER: Ye S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3729840 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Phylogeographic analyses strongly suggest cryptic speciation in the giant spiny frog (Dicroglossidae: Paa spinosa) and interspecies hybridization in Paa.

Ye Shupei S Huang Hua H Zheng Rongquan R Zhang Jiayong J Yang Guang G Xu Shixia S

PloS one 20130731 7

Species identification is one of the most basic yet crucial issues in biology with potentially far-reaching implications for fields such as conservation, population ecology, and epidemiology. The widely distributed but threatened frog Paa spinosa has been speculated to represent a complex of multiple species. In this study, 254 individuals representing species of the genus Paa were investigated along the entire range of P. spinosa: 196 specimens of P. spinosa, 8 specimens of P. jiulongensis, 5 s ...[more]

PMID: 23936199

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Project description:Recent advances in the understanding of the evolution of the Asian continent challenge the long-held belief of a faunal immigration into the Himalaya. Spiny frogs of the genus Nanorana are a characteristic faunal group of the Himalaya-Tibet orogen (HTO). We examine the phylogeny of these frogs to explore alternative biogeographic scenarios for their origin in the Greater Himalaya, namely, immigration, South Tibetan origin, strict vicariance. We sequenced 150 Nanorana samples from 62 localities for three mitochondrial (1,524 bp) and three nuclear markers (2,043 bp) and complemented the data with sequence data available from GenBank. We reconstructed a gene tree, phylogenetic networks, and ancestral areas. Based on the nuDNA, we also generated a time-calibrated species tree. The results revealed two major clades (Nanorana and Quasipaa), which originated in the Lower Miocene from eastern China and subsequently spread into the HTO (Nanorana). Five well-supported subclades are found within Nanorana: from the East, Central, and Northwest Himalaya, the Tibetan Plateau, and the southeastern Plateau margin. The latter subclade represents the most basal group (subgenus Chaparana), the Plateau group (Nanorana) represents the sister clade to all species of the Greater Himalaya (Paa). We found no evidence for an east-west range expansion of Paa along the Himalaya, nor clear support for a strict vicariance model. Diversification in each of the three Himalayan subclades has probably occurred in distinct areas. Specimens from the NW Himalaya are placed basally relative to the highly diverse Central Himalayan group, while the lineage from the Tibetan Plateau is placed within a more terminal clade. Our data indicate a Tibetan origin of Himalayan Nanorana and support a previous hypothesis, which implies that a significant part of the Himalayan biodiversity results from primary diversification of the species groups in South Tibet before this part of the HTO was uplifted to its recent heights.

Dataset Information

Phylogeographic analyses strongly suggest cryptic speciation in the giant spiny frog (Dicroglossidae: Paa spinosa) and interspecies hybridization in Paa.

Publications

Phylogeographic analyses strongly suggest cryptic speciation in the giant spiny frog (Dicroglossidae: Paa spinosa) and interspecies hybridization in Paa.

Similar Datasets

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