Genomic timetree and historical biogeography of Caribbean island ameiva lizards (Pholidoscelis: Teiidae)

The phylogenetic relationships and biogeographic history of Caribbean island ameivas (Pholidoscelis) are not well-known because of incomplete sampling, conflicting datasets, and poor support for many clades. Here, we use phylogenomic and mitochondrial DNA datasets to reconstruct a well-supported phylogeny and assess historical colonization patterns in the group. We obtained sequence data from 316 nuclear loci and one mitochondrial marker for 16 of 19 extant species of the Caribbean endemic genus Pholidoscelis. Phylogenetic analyses were carried out using both concatenation and species tree approaches. To estimate divergence times, we used fossil teiids to calibrate a timetree which was used to elucidate the historical biogeography of these lizards. All phylogenetic analyses recovered four well-supported species groups (clades) recognized previously and supported novel relationships of those groups, including a (P. auberi + P. lineolatus) clade (western + central Caribbean), and a (P. exsul + P. plei) clade (eastern Caribbean). Divergence between Pholidoscelis and its sister clade was estimated to have occurred ~25 Ma, with subsequent diversification on Caribbean islands occurring over the last 11 Myr. Of the six models compared in the biogeographic analyses, the scenario which considered the distance among islands and allowed dispersal in all directions best fit the data. These reconstructions suggest that the ancestor of this group colonized either Hispaniola or Puerto Rico from Middle America. We provide a well-supported phylogeny of Pholidoscelis with novel relationships not reported in previous studies that were based on significantly smaller datasets. We propose that Pholidoscelis colonized the eastern Greater Antilles from Middle America based on our biogeographic analysis, phylogeny, and divergence time estimates. The closing of the Central American Seaway and subsequent formation of the modern Atlantic meridional overturning circulation may have promoted dispersal in this group.

Methodological congruence in phylogenomic analyses with morphological support for teiid lizards (Sauria: Teiidae)

A well-known issue in phylogenetics is discordance among gene trees, species trees, morphology, and other data types. Gene-tree discordance is often caused by incomplete lineage sorting, lateral gene transfer, and gene duplication. Multispecies-coalescent methods can account for incomplete lineage sorting and are believed by many to be more accurate than concatenation. However, simulation studies and empirical data have demonstrated that concatenation and species tree methods often recover similar topologies. We use three popular methods of phylogenetic reconstruction (one concatenation, two species tree) to evaluate relationships within Teiidae. These lizards are distributed across the United States to Argentina and the West Indies, and their classification has been controversial due to incomplete sampling and the discordance among various character types (chromosomes, DNA, musculature, osteology, etc.) used to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships. Recent morphological and molecular analyses of the group resurrected three genera and created five new genera to resolve non-monophyly in three historically ill-defined genera: Ameiva, Cnemidophorus, and Tupinambis. Here, we assess the phylogenetic relationships of the Teiidae using "next-generation" anchored-phylogenomics sequencing. Our final alignment includes 316 loci (488,656bp DNA) for 244 individuals (56 species of teiids, representing all currently recognized genera) and all three methods (ExaML, MP-EST, and ASTRAL-II) recovered essentially identical topologies. Our results are basically in agreement with recent results from morphology and smaller molecular datasets, showing support for monophyly of the eight new genera. Interestingly, even with hundreds of loci, the relationships among some genera in Tupinambinae remain ambiguous (i.e. low nodal support for the position of Salvator and Dracaena).

Herpetofauna of protected areas in the Caatinga II: Serra da Capivara National Park, Piauí, Brazil

We provide a list of amphibians, lizards, chelonians, and snakes collected during a 30-day expedition to the Serra da Capivara National Park, Piauí State, Brazil. Thirty-seven pitfall trap arrays composed of 4 buckets each, along with glue traps, funnel traps, and haphazard searches, were used to sample the herpetofaunal diversity. We recorded 17 species of lizards, 1 caecilian, 1 chelonian, 7 frogs, and 11 snakes. Rarefaction curves suggest that local biodiversity is still underestimated. An atypical drought during the period of study may have contributed to lower captures of certain groups, especially amphibians and snakes. The presence of water-dependent and forest-dependent species within local canyons (“Boqueirões”) suggests that these areas harbor faunas associated with relictual rainforest fragments and need to be better studied and managed accordingly.