Phylogeography of the fanged dicroglossine frog, Limnonectes fujianensis (Anura, Ranidae), in Taiwan

Impacts of Quaternary glaciation, geological history and geography on animal species history in continental East Asia: A phylogeographic review

Continental East Asia has a mild Pleistocene climate and a complex recent geological history. Phylogeographic studies of animals over the last 30 years have produced several distinctive patterns. Glaciation refugia are numerous and are not restricted to any particular regions. Most of them are localized and species-specific, although several large refugia, for example the mountains of SW China, are shared by multiple species and have refugia-within-refugia. Furthermore, postglaciation range expansion events vary greatly in time, scale and direction. Large-scale south-to-north post-LGM expansions are few and mostly occurred in the northern regions. Additionally, several unique geographic features, including the three-step terrain of China and the northern arid belt, have significant impacts on many species histories. Overall, the impacts of Pleistocene glaciations, particularly the LGM, on species history vary drastically from nondetectable to significant. The impacts are the least for species from the southwestern region and are most dominant for species from the north. Geological events play a more significant role in shaping species history than Pleistocene climatic changes. Phylogeographic patterns among animals species are highly consistent with those of plants. Future phylogeographic endeavour in East Asia should be hypothesis-driven and seek processes that underlie common patterns. The wide use of genomic data allow accurate estimates of historical population processes and exploration of older history beyond the Pleistocene.

DNA barcoding of Chinese snakes reveals hidden diversity and conservation needs

DNA barcoding has greatly facilitated studies of taxonomy, biodiversity, biological conservation, and ecology. Here, we establish a reliable DNA barcoding library for Chinese snakes, unveiling hidden diversity with implications for taxonomy, and provide a standardized tool for conservation management. Our comprehensive study includes 1638 cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences from Chinese snakes that correspond to 17 families, 65 genera, 228 named species (80.6% of named species) and 36 candidate species. A barcode gap analysis reveals gaps, where all nearest neighbour distances exceed maximum intraspecific distances, in 217 named species and all candidate species. Three species-delimitation methods (ABGD, sGMYC, and sPTP) recover 320 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), of which 192 OTUs correspond to named and candidate species. Twenty-eight other named species share OTUs, such as Azemiops feae and A. kharini, Gloydius halys, G. shedaoensis, and G. intermedius, and Bungarus multicinctus and B. candidus, representing inconsistencies most probably caused by imperfect taxonomy, recent and rapid speciation, weak taxonomic signal, introgressive hybridization, and/or inadequate phylogenetic signal. In contrast, 43 species and candidate species assign to two or more OTUs due to having large intraspecific distances. If most OTUs detected in this study reflect valid species, including the 36 candidate species, then 30% more species would exist than are currently recognized. Several OTU divergences associate with known biogeographic barriers, such as the Taiwan Strait. In addition to facilitating future studies, this reliable and relatively comprehensive reference database will play an important role in the future monitoring, conservation, and management of Chinese snakes.

Phylogeography of Aphyocypris normalis Nichols and Pope, 1927 at Hainan Island and adjacent areas based on mitochondrial DNA data

We investigated the genetic structure of the freshwater fish Aphyocypris normalis, in 33 populations around Hainan Island and southern mainland China. Sequencing of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome b from 127 specimens yielded 47 haplotypes, from which we inferred a Bayesian tree. This revealed three major divergences: a principal clade of specimens with widespread geographic distribution, plus two clades with limited distribution. We estimated that these diverged between 1.05-0.16 Ma. Additionally, based on molecular data and comparing with the climate patterns of Hainan Island, eight phylogeographic ranges (populations) of A. normalis were constructed: the eastern plain (E), northeastern hills and plain (NE), northwestern hills and lowlands (NW), central mountains (C), southeastern hills and plain (SE), southern mountains and hills (S), southwestern mountains and lowlands (SW), and western lowlands (W). The patterns of geographical divergence in this species do not reflect the isolation caused by the Qiongzhou (Hainan) Strait, which would generally be experienced by terrestrial animals on isolated islands. The present results indicate that the major clades within A. normalis have diverged before the temporary land bridge existed across the strait during the Last Glacial Maximum.

Diversity, distribution and molecular species delimitation in frogs and toads from the Eastern Palaearctic

Biodiversity analyses can greatly benefit from coherent species delimitation schemes and up-to-date distribution data. In this article, we have made the daring attempt to delimit and map described and undescribed lineages of anuran amphibians in the Eastern Palaearctic (EP) region in its broad sense. Through a literature review, we have evaluated the species status considering reproductive isolation and genetic divergence, combined with an extensive occurrence dataset (nearly 85k localities). Altogether 274 native species from 46 genera and ten families were retrieved, plus eight additional species introduced from other realms. Independent hotspots of species richness were concentrated in southern Tibet (Medog County), the circum-Sichuan Basin region, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula and the main Japanese islands. Phylogeographic breaks responsible for recent in situ speciation events were shared around the Sichuan Mountains, across Honshu and between the Ryukyu Island groups, but not across shallow water bodies like the Yellow Sea and the Taiwan Strait. Anuran compositions suggested to restrict the zoogeographical limits of the EP to East Asia. In a rapidly evolving field, our study provides a checkpoint to appreciate patterns of species diversity in the EP under a single, spatially explicit, species delimitation framework that integrates phylogeographic data in taxonomic research.

A comparative phylogeographic study reveals discordant evolutionary histories of alpine ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae)

Taiwan, an island with three major mountain ranges, provides an ideal topography to study mountain-island effect on organisms that would be diversified in the isolation areas. Glaciations, however, might drive these organisms to lower elevations, causing gene flow among previously isolated populations. Two hypotheses have been proposed to depict the possible refugia for alpine organisms during glaciations. Nunatak hypothesis suggests that alpine species might have stayed in situ in high mountain areas during glaciations. Massif de refuge, on the other hand, proposes that alpine species might have migrated to lower ice-free areas. By sampling five sympatric carabid species of Nebria and Leistus, and using two mitochondrial genes and two nuclear genes, we evaluated the mountain-island effect on alpine carabids and tested the two proposed hypotheses with comparative phylogeographic method. Results from the phylogenetic relationships, network analysis, lineage calibration, and genetic structure indicate that the deep divergence among populations in all L. smetanai, N. formosana, and N. niitakana was subjected to long-term isolation, a phenomenon in agreement with the nunatak hypothesis. However, genetic admixture among populations of N. uenoiana and some populations of L. nokoensis complex suggests that gene flow occurred during glaciations, as a massif de refuge depicts. The speciation event in N. niitakana is estimated to have occurred before 1.89 million years ago (Mya), while differentiation among isolated populations in N. niitakana, N. formosana, L. smetanai, and L. nokoensis complex might have taken place during 0.65-1.65 Mya. While each of the alpine carabids arriving in Taiwan during different glaciation events acquired its evolutionary history, all of them had confronted the existing mountain ranges.

Within-island speciation with an exceptional case of distinct separation between two sibling lizard species divided by a narrow stream

Delimitation of genetic and geographic boundaries between species is a focus of evolutionary biology. In this study, we demonstrated fine-scale differentiation of Takydromus formosanus species complex comprising four insular endemics on Taiwan Island. Phylogeny and ancestral range reconstruction based on mitochondrial DNA sequences of 430 Takydromus lizards (405 lizards of this complex throughout their distribution range, and 25 lizards from 11 other species) indicated that the major branching process occurred within Taiwan, which represented a solid evidence of within-island speciation on this small island. We further demonstrated an exceptional case of a pair of sister species, T. viridipunctatus and T. luyeanus, that were separated by a narrow stream with a width of only 15m. This pattern might be one of the narrowest contact zones ever documented in terrestrial vertebrates. To evaluate the level of genetic introgression between these sister species, a fine-scale collection of another 382 lizards was conducted along a transect line across the stream. A total of 13 microsatellite markers and mtDNA genotyping was used to detect a low proportion of hybrids (5.7-9.9% from STRUCTURE, and 2.3% from DAPC). Our results indicated that the two clades are highly differentiated across this extremely short distance.