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Vences M, Armerding M, Köhler J, Glaw F. Genetic diversity of the mantellid frog Blommersia blommersae, and description of a new anuran species from south-eastern Madagascar. AFR J HERPETOL 2023. [DOI: 10.1080/21564574.2023.2165547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Vences
- Zoologisches Institut, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Moritz Armerding
- Zoologisches Institut, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Jörn Köhler
- Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Frank Glaw
- Zoologische Staatssammlung München (ZSM-SNSB), München, Germany
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Hanes MM, Shell S, Shimu T, Crist C, Machkour‐M’Rabet S. The phylogeographic history of Megistostegium (Malvaceae) in the dry, spiny thickets of southwestern Madagascar using RAD-seq data and ecological niche modeling. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e8632. [PMID: 35222982 PMCID: PMC8848458 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Revised: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 01/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The spiny thicket of southwestern Madagascar represents an extreme and ancient landscape with extraordinary levels of biodiversity and endemism. Few hypotheses exist for explaining speciation in the region and few plant studies have explored hypotheses for species diversification. Here, we investigate three species in the endemic genus Megistostegium (Malvaceae) to evaluate phylogeographic structure and explore the roles of climate, soil, and paleoclimate oscillations on population divergence and speciation throughout the region. We combine phylogenetic and phylogeographic inference of RADseq data with ecological niche modeling across space and time. Population structure is concurrent with major rivers in the region and we identify a new, potentially important biogeographic break coincident with several landscape features. Our data further suggests that niches occupied by species and populations differ substantially across their distribution. Paleodistribution modeling provide evidence that past climatic change could be responsible for the current distribution, population structure, and maintenance of species in Megistostegium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margaret M. Hanes
- Department of BiologyEastern Michigan UniversityYpsilantiMichiganUSA
| | - Susan Shell
- Department of BiologyEastern Michigan UniversityYpsilantiMichiganUSA
| | - Tahsina Shimu
- Department of BiologyEastern Michigan UniversityYpsilantiMichiganUSA
| | - Clarissa Crist
- Department of BiologyEastern Michigan UniversityYpsilantiMichiganUSA
| | - Salima Machkour‐M’Rabet
- Departamento de Conservación de la BiodiversiadadEl Colegio de la Frontera SurChetumalMexico
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Nunes LA, Raxworthy CJ, Pearson RG. Evidence for ecological processes driving speciation among endemic lizards of Madagascar. Evolution 2021; 76:58-69. [PMID: 34862965 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Revised: 09/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Although genetic patterns produced by population isolation during speciation are well documented, the biogeographic and ecological processes that trigger speciation remain poorly understood. Alternative hypotheses for the biogeography and ecology of speciation include geographic isolation combined with niche conservation (soft allopatry) or parapatric distribution on an environmental gradient with niche divergence (ecological speciation). Here, we use species' distributions, environmental data, and two null models (the Random Translation and Rotation and the Background Similarity Test) to test these alternative hypotheses among 28 sister pairs of microendemic lizards in Madagascar. Our results demonstrate strong bimodal peaks along a niche divergence-conservation spectrum, with at least 25 out of 28 sister pairs exhibiting either niche conservation or divergence, and the remaining pairs showing weak ecological signals. Yet despite these significant results, we do not find strong associations of niche conservation with allopatric distributions or niche divergence with parapatric distributions. Our findings thus provide strong evidence of a role for ecological processes driving speciation, rather than the classic expectation of speciation through geographic isolation, but demonstrate that the link between ecological speciation and parapatry is complex and requires further analysis of a broader taxonomic sample to fully resolve.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura A Nunes
- Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.,Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706
| | - Christopher J Raxworthy
- Department of Herpetology, The American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, 10024
| | - Richard G Pearson
- Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
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4
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Belluardo F, Quirós DD, Lobón-Rovira J, Rosa GM, Rasoazanany M, Andreone F, Crottini A. Uncovering the herpetological diversity of small forest fragments in south-eastern Madagascar (Haute Matsiatra). ZOOSYST EVOL 2021. [DOI: 10.3897/zse.97.63936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Madagascar has historically suffered from high fragmentation of forested habitats, often leading to biodiversity loss. Neverthless, forest fragments still retain high levels of biological diversity. The Haute Matsiatra Region (south-eastern Madagascar) hosts the renowned Andringitra National Park and several surrounding isolated forest fragments embedded in a matrix of human-dominated landscape. During a herpetological survey conducted in the Region, we visited a total of 25 sites. We applied a molecular taxonomic approach to identify the collected material and generate new reference sequences to improve the molecular identification of Malagasy herpetofauna. We identified a total of 28 amphibian and 38 squamate taxa and provided a systematic account for each one of them. Nine of the identified taxa are candidate species, amongst which one was newly identified. We extended the known distributional range of 21 taxa (nine amphibians and 12 squamates). Although the largest forest fragments hold a higher number of species, we also detected a relatively high herpetological diversity in small patches. Our results highlight the importance of investigating small forest fragments to contribute to a better understanding of the patterns of diversity and distribution of the amphibians and reptiles of Madagascar.
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Burbrink FT, Ruane S, Kuhn A, Rabibisoa N, Randriamahatantsoa B, Raselimanana AP, Andrianarimalala MSM, Cadle JE, Lemmon AR, Lemmon EM, Nussbaum RA, Jones LN, Pearson R, Raxworthy CJ. The Origins and Diversification of the Exceptionally Rich Gemsnakes (Colubroidea: Lamprophiidae: Pseudoxyrhophiinae) in Madagascar. Syst Biol 2019; 68:918-936. [DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syz026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2018] [Revised: 04/05/2019] [Accepted: 04/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Processes leading to spectacular diversity of both form and species on islands have been well-documented under island biogeography theory, where distance from source and island size are key factors determining immigration and extinction resistance. But far less understood are the processes governing in situ diversification on the world’s mega islands, where large and isolated land masses produced morphologically distinct radiations from related taxa on continental regions. Madagascar has long been recognized as a natural laboratory due to its isolation, lack of influence from adjacent continents, and diversification of spectacular vertebrate radiations. However, only a handful of studies have examined rate shifts of in situ diversification for this island. Here, we examine rates of diversification in the Malagasy snakes of the family Pseudoxyrhophiinae (gemsnakes) to understand if rates of speciation were initially high, enhanced by diversification into distinct biomes, and associated with key dentition traits. Using a genomic sequence-capture data set for 366 samples, we determine that all previously described and newly discovered species are delimitable and therefore useful candidates for understanding diversification trajectories through time. Our analysis detected no shifts in diversification rate between clades or changes in biome or dentition type. Remarkably, we demonstrate that rates of diversification of the gemsnake radiation, which originated in Madagascar during the early Miocene, remained steady throughout the Neogene. However, we do detect a significant slowdown in diversification during the Pleistocene. We also comment on the apparent paradox where most living species originated in the Pleistocene, despite diversification rates being substantially higher during the earlier 15 myr.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frank T Burbrink
- Department of Herpetology, The American Museum of Natural History, 79th Street at Central Park West, New York, NY 10024, USA
| | - Sara Ruane
- Department of Biological Sciences, 206 Boyden Hall, Rutgers University-Newark, 195 University Ave, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
| | - Arianna Kuhn
- Department of Herpetology, The American Museum of Natural History, 79th Street at Central Park West, New York, NY 10024, USA
- Department of Biology, The Graduate School and University Center, The City University of New York, 365 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Nirhy Rabibisoa
- Mention Sciences de la Vie et de l’Environnement, Faculté des Sciences, de Technologies et de l’Environnement, Université de Mahajanga, Campus Universitaire d’Ambondrona, BP 652, Mahajanga 401, Madagascar
| | - Bernard Randriamahatantsoa
- Mention Sciences de la Vie et de l’Environnement, Faculté des Sciences, de Technologies et de l’Environnement, Université de Mahajanga, Campus Universitaire d’Ambondrona, BP 652, Mahajanga 401, Madagascar
| | - Achille P Raselimanana
- Mention: Zoologie et Biodiversité Animale, Faculté des Sciences, Université d’Antananarivo, BP 906, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
| | - Mamy S M Andrianarimalala
- Mention: Zoologie et Biodiversité Animale, Faculté des Sciences, Université d’Antananarivo, BP 906, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
| | - John E Cadle
- Department of Biology, East Georgia State College, Swainsboro, GA 30401, USA
| | - Alan R Lemmon
- Department of Scientific Computing, Florida State University, Dirac Science Library, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4102, USA
| | - Emily Moriarty Lemmon
- Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, 319 Stadium Drive, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4295, USA
| | - Ronald A Nussbaum
- Division of Reptiles and Amphibians, Museum of Zoology, Research Museums Center, 3600 Varsity Drive, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA
| | - Leonard N Jones
- Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1800, USA
| | - Richard Pearson
- Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Christopher J Raxworthy
- Department of Herpetology, The American Museum of Natural History, 79th Street at Central Park West, New York, NY 10024, USA
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