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Gautam KB, Kumar A, Das A, Gupta SK. Himalayan upliftment and Shiwalik succession act as a cradle for divergence in Bengal monitor lizard Varanus bengalensis (Reptilia: Varanidae) in India. Cladistics 2023; 39:382-397. [PMID: 37200006 DOI: 10.1111/cla.12542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Revised: 04/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The Himalayan foothills and associated environment are well-known for driving the rapid diversification of many species and the formation of biodiversity hotspots. The effects of environmental change since the Miocene have accelerated species diversification, and hence are useful for studying population genetic structure, and evolutionary relationships via genetic approaches. To date, the effects of climatic fluctuations on the biogeography of large-bodied lizards have not been assessed comprehensively. Herein, we examine the diversification of Varanus bengalensis, focusing on its genetic structure to provide insights into how landscape structure and climatic fluctuations have shaped species differentiation. We confirm the existence of two distinct lineages within V. bengalensis distributed across the Himalayan foothills and the remainder of mainland India. Divergence analyses revealed the split between the Himalayan foothills and the remainder of the mainland lineages of V. bengalensis in the mid-Pliocene ~3.06 Ma, potentially as a consequence of the Siwalik broadening and climatic fluctuations across the Himalayan foothills. The results suggest recognition of a new lineage of V. bengalensis from the Himalayan foothills as a distinctive evolutionarily significant unit.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ajit Kumar
- Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001, India
| | - Abhijit Das
- Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001, India
| | - Sandeep Kumar Gupta
- Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001, India
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Pavón-Vázquez CJ, Brennan IG, Skeels A, Keogh JS. Competition and geography underlie speciation and morphological evolution in Indo-Australasian monitor lizards. Evolution 2022; 76:476-495. [PMID: 34816437 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2020] [Revised: 10/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
How biotic and abiotic factors act together to shape biological diversity is a major question in evolutionary biology. The recent availability of large datasets and development of new methodological approaches provide new tools to evaluate the predicted effects of ecological interactions and geography on lineage diversification and phenotypic evolution. Here, we use a near complete phylogenomic-scale phylogeny and a comprehensive morphological dataset comprising more than a thousand specimens to assess the role of biotic and abiotic processes in the diversification of monitor lizards (Varanidae). This charismatic group of lizards shows striking variation in species richness among its clades and multiple instances of endemic radiation in Indo-Australasia (i.e., the Indo-Australian Archipelago and Australia), one of Earth's most biogeographically complex regions. We found heterogeneity in diversification dynamics across the family. Idiosyncratic biotic and geographic conditions appear to have driven diversification and morphological evolution in three endemic Indo-Australasian radiations. Furthermore, incumbency effects partially explain patterns in the biotic exchange between Australia and New Guinea. Our results offer insight into the dynamic history of Indo-Australasia, the evolutionary significance of competition, and the long-term consequences of incumbency effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos J Pavón-Vázquez
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.,Current Address: Department of Biological Sciences, New York City College of Technology, City University of New York, Brooklyn, New York, 11201
| | - Ian G Brennan
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
| | - Alexander Skeels
- Landscape Ecology, Department of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Zürich, CH-8092, Switzerland.,Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, CH-8903, Switzerland
| | - J Scott Keogh
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
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3
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Weijola V, Vahtera V, Lindqvist C, Kraus F. A molecular phylogeny for the Pacific monitor lizards (Varanus subgenus Euprepiosaurus) reveals a recent and rapid radiation with high levels of cryptic diversity. Zool J Linn Soc 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
We provide a geographically well-sampled, time-calibrated molecular phylogeny for the Pacific monitor lizards (Varanus: subgenus Euprepiosaurus) based on ND4 and 16S rRNA mitochondrial DNA sequences. Three well-supported clades, or species groups, are retrieved: the Varanus doreanus Group, the V. jobiensis Group and the V. indicus Group. The subgenus is estimated to have originated in the Mid-Miocene, but extant lineage diversification dates from the Late Miocene and Pliocene. A rapid and widespread radiation of the V. indicus Group into the South-West Pacific islands has occurred in the Pleistocene, but colonization onto these islands did not occur in a linear, stepping-stone fashion. Genetically distinct populations – by tradition classified as V. indicus, but seemingly representing distinct species – occur scattered on Tanimbar, several of the Solomon Islands, the Admiralty Islands, the Louisiade Archipelago, Palau and Guam. Our analyses indicate that Varanus jobiensis is a species complex with several divergent lineages that started to separate in the Pliocene and continued in the Pleistocene, the former coinciding with the uplift of the Central Dividing Range on New Guinea. We find that sympatry among species of Euprepiosaurus has not occurred until divergence times of 4.7–5.8 Myr have accrued.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valter Weijola
- Zoological Museum, Biodiversity Unit, University of Turku, Finland
| | - Varpu Vahtera
- Zoological Museum, Biodiversity Unit, University of Turku, Finland
| | | | - Fred Kraus
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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Schindel DE, Miller SE, Trizna MG, Graham E, Crane AE. The Global Registry of Biodiversity Repositories: A Call for Community Curation. Biodivers Data J 2016:e10293. [PMID: 27660523 PMCID: PMC5018115 DOI: 10.3897/bdj.4.e10293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2016] [Accepted: 08/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The Global Registry of Biodiversity Repositories is an online metadata resource for biodiversity collections, the institutions that contain them, and associated staff members. The registry provides contact and address information, characteristics of the institutions and collections using controlled vocabularies and free-text descripitons, links to related websites, unique identifiers for each institution and collection record, text fields for loan and use policies, and a variety of other descriptors. Each institution record includes an institutionCode that must be unique, and each collection record must have a collectionCode that is unique within that institution. The registry is populated with records imported from the largest similar registries and more can be harmonized and added. Doing so will require community input and curation and would produce a truly comprehensive and unifying information resource.
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Affiliation(s)
- David E Schindel
- Consortium for the Barcode of Life and Scientific Collection International, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Scott E Miller
- Office of the Provost, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Michael G Trizna
- Consortium for the Barcode of Life, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Eileen Graham
- Scientific Collections International, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Adele E Crane
- Scientific Collections International, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States of America
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Weijola V, Kraus F, Vahtera V, Lindqvist C, Donnellan SC. Reinstatement of Varanus douarrha Lesson, 1830 as a valid species with comments on the zoogeography of monitor lizards (Squamata : Varanidae) in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. AUST J ZOOL 2016. [DOI: 10.1071/zo16038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The distribution and taxonomy of varanid lizards occurring in the Bismarck Archipelago is revised on the basis of field surveys, examination of museum vouchers and molecular phylogenetic analyses. A total of four species is recorded: Varanus indicus and Varanus finschi on New Britain and some of its offshore islands, Varanus douarrha on New Ireland, Lavongai and Djaul, and Varanus semotus on Mussau Island. V. douarrha, previously mistaken for both V. indicus and V. finschi, is shown to be the only species represented on New Ireland and is here resurrected as a valid taxon based on an integrated approach combining morphological and molecular evidence. Phylogenetic analyses of two mitochondrial genes suggest that V. indicus is a relatively recent immigrant to the Bismarck Islands, whereas V. douarrha, V. finschi and V. semotus have significantly longer histories in the island group. Together with the recently described V. semotus the revalidation of V. douarrha doubles the number of species known to occur in the Bismarck region and highlights an important component of both local and regional endemism.
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