A new endemic lineage of the Andean frog genus Telmatobius (Anura,Telmatobiidae) from the western slopes of the central Andes |
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Authors: | Paola A Sáez Pablo Fibla Claudio Correa Michel Sallaberry Hugo Salinas Alberto Veloso Jorge Mella Patricia Iturra Marco A Méndez |
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Institution: | 1. Laboratorio de Genética y Evolución, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, , Santiago, Chile;2. Laboratorio de Herpetología, Departamento de Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas, Universidad de Concepción, Barrio Universitario Sin Número, , Concepción, Chile;3. Laboratorio de Zoología de Vertebrados, Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, , Santiago, Chile;4. Centro de Ecología Aplicada (CEA), , Santiago, Chile;5. Laboratorio de Citogenética y Genética Poblacional de Vertebrados, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas (ICBM), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, , Santiago, Chile;6. Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, , Santiago, Chile |
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Abstract: | The amphibian genus Telmatobius is a diverse group of species that inhabits the Andes. This study analysed the phylogenetic relationships of 19 species described from the central Andes of Chile and Bolivia, and 12 undescribed populations of Chile. A molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial DNA 16S and cytochrome b shows that the Chilean species belong to three groups: (1) the Telmatobius marmoratus group, widespread in the Chilean and Bolivian Altiplano; (2) the Telmatobius hintoni group, including the species Telmatobius philippii, Telmatobius fronteriensis, and Telmatobius huayra, occurring in the south‐western Altiplano of Chile and Bolivia, and (3) the Telmatobius zapahuirensis group, a new clade which also includes Telmatobius chusmisensis, Telmatobius dankoi, and Telmatobius vilamensis, restricted to western slopes of the Andes, and which was recovered as more closely related to the T. hintoni group than the T. marmoratus group. The divergence times between clades were traced to the late Pleistocene. The molecular phylogeny also confirmed that the groups of the Altiplano and western Andes slopes form a clade separated from the species that inhabit the eastern Andes (Telmatobius verrucosus and Telmatobius bolivianus groups), supporting the forest origin of the Altiplano groups proposed by several previous authors. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London |
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Keywords: | Altiplano Amphibia mitochondrial DNA molecular clock systematics |
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