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A Pan-Amazonian species delimitation: high species diversity within the genus Amazophrynella (Anura: Bufonidae).

ABSTRACT: Amphibians are probably the most vulnerable group to climate change and climate-change associate diseases. This ongoing biodiversity crisis makes it thus imperative to improve the taxonomy of anurans in biodiverse but understudied areas such as Amazonia. In this study, we applied robust integrative taxonomic methods combining genetic (mitochondrial 16S, 12S and COI genes), morphological and environmental data to delimit species of the genus Amazophrynella (Anura: Bufonidae) sampled from throughout their pan-Amazonian distribution. Our study confirms the hypothesis that the species diversity of the genus is grossly underestimated. Our analyses suggest the existence of eighteen linages of which seven are nominal species, three Deep Conspecific Lineages, one Unconfirmed Candidate Species, three Uncategorized Lineages, and four Confirmed Candidate Species and described herein. We also propose a phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus and discuss its implications for historical biogeography of this Amazonian group.

SUBMITTER: Rojas RR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6042491 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A Pan-Amazonian species delimitation: high species diversity within the genus <i>Amazophrynella</i> (Anura: Bufonidae).

Rojas Rommel R RR Fouquet Antoine A Ron Santiago R SR Hernández-Ruz Emil José EJ Melo-Sampaio Paulo R PR Chaparro Juan C JC Vogt Richard C RC de Carvalho Vinicius Tadeu VT Pinheiro Leandra Cardoso LC Avila Robson W RW Farias Izeni Pires IP Gordo Marcelo M Hrbek Tomas T

PeerJ 20180709

Amphibians are probably the most vulnerable group to climate change and climate-change associate diseases. This ongoing biodiversity crisis makes it thus imperative to improve the taxonomy of anurans in biodiverse but understudied areas such as Amazonia. In this study, we applied robust integrative taxonomic methods combining genetic (mitochondrial 16S, 12S and COI genes), morphological and environmental data to delimit species of the genus <i>Amazophrynella</i> (Anura: Bufonidae) sampled from t ...[more]

PMID: 30013824

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Dataset Information

A Pan-Amazonian species delimitation: high species diversity within the genus Amazophrynella (Anura: Bufonidae).

Publications

A Pan-Amazonian species delimitation: high species diversity within the genus <i>Amazophrynella</i> (Anura: Bufonidae).

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