A Pan-Amazonian species delimitation: high species diversity within the genusAmazophrynella(Anura: Bufonidae)

Abstract

Amphibians are probably the most vulnerable group to climate change and climate-change associate diseases. This ongoing biodiversity crisis makes it thus imperative to improve the taxonomy of anurans in biodiverse but understudied areas such as Amazonia. In this study, we applied robust integrative taxonomic methods combining genetic (mitochondrial 16S, 12S and COI genes), morphological and environmental data to delimit species of the genus Amazophrynella (Anura: Bufonidae) sampled from throughout their pan-Amazonian distribution. Our study confirms the hypothesis that the species diversity of the genus is grossly underestimated. Our analyses suggest the existence of eighteen linages of which seven are nominal species, three Deep Conspecific Lineages, one Unconfirmed Candidate Species, three Uncategorized Lineages, and four Confirmed Candidate Species and described herein. We also propose a phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus and discuss its implications for historical biogeography of this Amazonian group.

A new tiny toad species ofAmazophrynella(Anura: Bufonidae) from east of the Guiana Shield in Amazonia, Brazil

“…In our phylogenetic analyses we recovered the same three main clades observed by Rojas et al (2018a). However, we found three previously recognized lineages (A. teko, A. aff.…”

“…In addition to the A. teko paraphyletic in relation to Amazophrynella sp.1., we found 1.2% of 16S p-distances between these two lineages (1% in Kaefer et al, 2019, and3% in Rojas et al, 2018a;Rojas et al, 2018b), which might indicate that they represent the same species. The difference between the topologies from Rojas et al (2018a) and in the present work can be due to the different methods used in each study (concatenated vs concatenated with partition finder). We also recovered A. bilinguis as sister taxa of A. sp.2, A. sp.3, and A. xinguensis, different from the topology found by Kaefer et al (2019), where A. bilinguis was recovered within a clade formed by A.…”

“…Nowadays, the genus contains 12 described species, of which 10 have been described in the last six years, all recovered as genetically distinct lineages (see Kaefer et al, 2019). Despite the high number of descriptions, recent studies have shown that species richness of this genus is underestimated, and several undescribed species likely exist (Fouquet et al, 2012a;Rojas et al, 2016;Rojas et al, 2018a;Vacher et al, 2020). Emphasizing the existence of many species still unknown for the genus, we collected a series of small-sized bufonid specimens in Óbidos municipality, Pará State, Brazil, that represents a genetically structured lineage within the genus Amazophrynella, which we describe as a new species.…”

Employing statistical learning to derive species‐level genetic diversity for mammalian species

“…However, interest in species description has dwindled over the years, along with the number of students of taxonomy (Hopkins & Freckleton 2002). To complicate matters further, growing evidence for an ongoing biodiversity crisis has accumulated, and it is considered virtually impossible for biologists to describe all unknown species at the current pace of biodiversity loss (Kim & Byrne 2006, Carrete et al 2009, Joppa et al 2011, Pimm et al 2014, Rojas et al 2018.…”

Hidden in the DNA: How multiple historical processes and natural history traits shaped patterns of cryptic diversity in an Amazon leaf‐litter lizardLoxopholis osvaldoi(Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae)

“…Other leaf-litter vertebrates are remarkably similar to it -especially regarding levels of genetic structure and spatial organization of lineages (e.g. Fouquet et al, 2014;Geurgas & Rodrigues, 2010;Nunes et al, 2012;Rojas et al, 2018). However, not all Amazonian reptiles share the same pattern: natural history traits appear to influence genetic structure since traits determine long-term dispersal capacity of species, and hence impact gene flow and admixture (Paz, Ibáñez, Lips, & Crawford, 2015;Zamudio, Bell, & Mason, 2016 Pinto et al, 2019;Prates et al, 2016).…”