Trans-marine dispersal inferred from the saltwater tolerance of lizards from Taiwan

The natural and human-mediated expansion of a human-commensal lizard into the fringes of Southeast Asia

BACKGROUND

Human-commensal species often display deep ancestral genetic structure within their native range and founder-effects and/or evidence of multiple introductions and admixture in newly established areas. We investigated the phylogeography of Eutropis multifasciata, an abundant human-commensal scincid lizard that occurs across Southeast Asia, to determine the extent of its native range and to assess the sources and signatures of human introduction outside of the native range. We sequenced over 350 samples of E. multifasciata for the mitochondrial ND2 gene and reanalyzed a previous RADseq population genetic dataset in a phylogenetic framework.

RESULTS

Nuclear and mitochondrial trees are concordant and show that E. multifasciata has retained high levels of genetic structure across Southeast Asia despite being frequently moved by humans. Lineage boundaries in the native range roughly correspond to several major biogeographic barriers, including Wallace's Line and the Isthmus of Kra. Islands at the outer fringe of the range show evidence of founder-effects and multiple introductions.

CONCLUSIONS

Most of enormous range of E. multifasciata across Southeast Asia is native and it only displays signs of human-introduction or recent expansion along the eastern and northern fringe of its range. There were at least three events of human-introductions to Taiwan and offshore islands, and several oceanic islands in eastern Indonesia show a similar pattern. In Myanmar and Hainan, there is a founder-effect consistent with post-warming expansion after the last glacial maxima or human introduction.

Biogeography and eye size evolution of the ogre-faced spiders

Net-casting spiders (Deinopidae) comprise a charismatic family with an enigmatic evolutionary history. There are 67 described species of deinopids, placed among three genera, Deinopis, Menneus, and Asianopis, that are distributed globally throughout the tropics and subtropics. Deinopis and Asianopis, the ogre-faced spiders, are best known for their giant light-capturing posterior median eyes (PME), whereas Menneus does not have enlarged PMEs. Molecular phylogenetic studies have revealed discordance between morphology and molecular data. We employed a character-rich ultra-conserved element (UCE) dataset and a taxon-rich cytochrome-oxidase I (COI) dataset to reconstruct a genus-level phylogeny of Deinopidae, aiming to investigate the group's historical biogeography, and examine PME size evolution. Although the phylogenetic results support the monophyly of Menneus and the single reduction of PME size in deinopids, these data also show that Deinopis is not monophyletic. Consequently, we formally transfer 24 Deinopis species to Asianopis; the transfers comprise all of the African, Australian, South Pacific, and a subset of Central American and Mexican species. Following the divergence of Eastern and Western deinopids in the Cretaceous, Deinopis/Asianopis dispersed from Africa, through Asia and into Australia with its biogeographic history reflecting separation of Western Gondwana as well as long-distance dispersal events.

Systematics of the New World bats Eptesicus and Histiotus suggest trans-marine dispersal followed by Neotropical cryptic diversification

Biodiversity can be boosted by colonization of new habitats such as remote islands and separated continents. Molecular studies have suggested that recently evolved organisms probably colonized already separated continents by dispersal, either via land bridge connections or crossing the ocean. Here we test the on-land and trans-marine dispersal hypotheses by evaluating possibilities of colonization routes over the Bering land bridge and across the Atlantic Ocean in the cosmopolitan bat genus Eptesicus (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae). Previous molecular studies have found New World Eptesicus more closely related to Histiotus, a Neotropical endemic lineage with enlarged ears, than to Old World Eptesicus. However, phylogenetic relationships within the New World group remained unresolved and their evolutionary history was unclear. Here we studied the systematics of New World Eptesicus and Histiotus using extensive taxonomic and geographic sampling, and genomic data from thousands of ultra-conserved elements (UCEs). We estimated phylogenetic trees using concatenation and multispecies coalescent. All analyses supported four major New World clades and a novel topology where E. fuscus and Histiotus are sister clades that together diverged from two sister clades of Neotropical Eptesicus. Intra-clade divergence suggested cryptic diversity that has been concealed by morphological features, especially in the Neotropics where taxonomic re-evaluations are warranted. Molecular dating estimated that Old World and New World clades diverged around 17 million years ago followed by radiation of major New World clades in the mid-Miocene, when climatic changes might have facilitated global dispersal and radiation events. Biogeographic ancestral reconstruction supported the Neotropical origin of the New World clades, suggesting a trans-Atlantic colonization route from North Africa to the northern Neotropics. We highlight that trans-marine dispersal may be more prevalent than currently acknowledged and may be an important first step to global biodiversification.

The Global and Western Indian Ocean Dispersal of House Geckos From Asia Using Historical and Mitochondrial DNA Perspectives

Seven species of house geckos occur across the scattered islands of the Indian Ocean. Two of these, Hemidactylus frenatus and H. parvimaculatus are both widespread and possess distribution profiles that suggest pre-European, or perhaps natural dispersal to some islands. Of these, only H. frenatus currently has sufficient molecular data to begin exploring dispersal patterns. This species is one of the most successful reptile colonists, as demonstrated by its global, pantropical distribution. While in some areas, such as Australia and continental South America, its dispersal patterns are both recent and well-known, early historical records of Hemidactylus in the Indian Ocean islands suggest earlier and/or potentially non-human-mediated dispersals. Here, we reviewed the historical literature and combined those reports with an assessment of mitochondrial DNA diversity of a global sampling of H. frenatus samples that included modern and museum specimens. Our results corroborate previous studies and demonstrate the relatively high diversity within this species’ native range in Southeast Asia. In addition, the phylogenetic analysis suggests both a potential cryptic species complex, as well as global geographic structuring of different H. frenatus mitochondrial lineages. This has important implications for many comparative studies of this complex. Frequent and ongoing dispersals and colonizations complicate the identification of potentially older migration patterns. Further assessments including additional samples and analyses of additional genetic markers are necessary to disentangle older from more recent dispersals within this intriguing species.

Dispersal patterns of Squamata in the Mediterranean: An evolutionary perspective

Mediterranean islands have a high diversity of squamates, although they are unevenly distributed. This variability in the composition of the reptile assemblages across islands may have been influenced by differences in the colonization abilities of these species. To evaluate the dispersal capacities of squamate species, we modeled their sea routes using cost surface models. We estimated the effects of some life-history traits and the phylogenetic signal in the characteristics of the modeled dispersal paths. We hypothesized that a significant phylogenetic signal should be present if the dispersal ability is enhanced by traits shared among evolutionarily related species. The results showed that no phylogenetic signal was present in the characteristics of the dispersal paths (i.e., in the distance traveled/bypassed sea depth). Thus, no superior island-colonizer lineages were detected in Mediterranean Squamata. However, our analyses also revealed that small-sized lizards were superior to other groups of squamates at dispersing over long distances on the sea.