Delimitation despite discordance: Evaluating the species limits of a confounding species complex in the face of mitonuclear discordance.

ABSTRACT: The delimitation of species is an essential pursuit of biology, and proper taxonomies are crucial for the assessment and conservation management of organismal diversity. However, delimiting species can be hindered by a number of factors including highly conserved morphologies (e.g., cryptic species), differences in criteria of species concepts, lineages being in the early stages of the speciation or divergence process, and discordance between gene topologies (e.g., mitonuclear discordance). Here we use a taxonomically confounded species complex of toads in Central America that exhibits extensive mitonuclear discordance to test delimitation hypotheses. Our investigation integrates mitochondrial sequences, nuclear SNPs, morphology, and macroecological data to determine which taxonomy best ex

SUBMITTER: Firneno TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8462145 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature