Divergence in mitochondrial DNA of Near Eastern water frogs with special reference to the systematic status of Cypriote and Anatolian populations (Anura, Ranidae)

Abstract

Water frogs from Anatolia, Syria, Jordan, and central Asia (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan) were compared on the basis of the complete mitochondrial (mt) ND3 gene (340 bp), two anking mt t-RNA gene fragments (26 bp), and a 374 bp fragment of the mt 12S rRNA gene. A total of 27 haplotypes were found among the investigated individuals. Anatolian water frogs differed from Syrian and Jordanian Rana bedriagae by 2.2-3.4% of the analysed sites. The observed divergence (2.8-4.1%) between the Cypriote water frogs and frogs from the surrounding mainland (southern Turkey, west Syria) was in the same range as between R. bedriagae and European R. ridibunda (3.1-3.9%). These results suggest that neither the Cypriote nor the Anatolian water frogs represent R. bedriagae. Furthermore, maximum parsimony and neighbour-joinin g trees showed a clear subdivision of Asian water frogs into three Anatolian lineages, two central Asian lineages, a Cypriote lineage and the bedriagae lineage. In all trees the Cypriote lineage branches off rst and a clade formed by two Anatolian lineages is placed as the sister group of water frogs from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, whereas the phylogeneti c positions of R. bedriagae, the Ceyhan lineage, the Kazakhstan lineage and R. ridibunda remain unclear.

Cryptic diversity within the Anatololacerta species complex (Squamata: Lacertidae) in the Anatolian Peninsula: Evidence from a multi-locus approach

“…Other studies have suggested the existence of cryptic genetic lineages within some amphibian and reptile taxa with apparently continuous geographic distribution in Anatolia (Kyriazi et al, 2008;Plötner et al, 2001;Akın et al, 2010;Fritz et al, 2007). Recent results very similar to the ones here described for Anatololacerta have been recovered for the Eurasian blindsnake, Typhlops vermicularis (Kornilios et al, 2011(Kornilios et al, , 2012 and the Blanus strauchi species complex (Sindaco et al, 2014).…”

“…For instance, Ophisops elegans shows four distinct genetic lineages in Anatolia (Kyriazi et al, 2008). The Anatolian water frogs exhibit a similar pattern with various lineages having been identified (Plötner et al, 2001;Akın et al, 2010). Fritz et al (2007) revealed the existence of several mtDNA varieties of Testudo graeca in Anatolia, that were assigned to specific level, and were also confirmed in some cases by a thorough morphological approach (Türkozan et al, 2010).…”

“…During that time, divergent evolutionary lineages could have originated within populations in southern refugia, already identified as suitable for reptiles and amphibians persistence during glacial phases (e.g. Kornilios et al, 2011;Plötner et al, 2001;Weisrock et al, 2001;Fritz et al, 2007;Kyriazi et al, 2008;Akın et al, 2010;Gvoždik et al, 2010a,b;Kornilios et al, 2010;Wielstra et al, 2010). Anatolia is predominantly mountainous, and its varied geomorphology produces many different climatic regions and vegetation types (see Sindaco et al, 2000 for detailed description of these characteristics).…”

“…Particularly in the south, the Anatolian mountains played an important role in speciation and definition of biogeographical subregions, promoting endemisms and great intraspecific genetic diversity in this area (Çıplak, 2003, 2004 and references therein). Accordingly, several cryptic genetic lineages of amphibians and reptiles showing continuous geographic distributions in Anatolia have been revealed (Kyriazi et al, 2008;Plötner et al, 2001;Akın et al, 2010;Fritz et al, 2007).…”

Genetic diversity and biogeographic history inform future conservation management strategies for the rare sunset frog (Spicospina flammocaerulea)

“…However, to incorporate the potential for variation in mutation rate we also calculated divergences using the lower and upper limits of rates reported for anurans in the literature for ND2 (e.g. 0.69% for every million years for Bufo (Macey et al 1998) and 2.4% for every million years for Rana (Plötner et al 2001)). …”