Molecular characterization of the spectacled caiman (<i>Caiman crocodilus</i>) in the upper Magdalena River basin, Colombia: Demographic and phylogeographic insights

Díaz-Moreno, Diana M.; Hernández-González, Felipe; Moncada-Jimenez, Juan F; Mora, C. Medina; Quiroga, Carlos Fernando Prada; Jiménez-Alonso, Gonzalo; Balaguera-Reina, Sergio A.

doi:10.1080/14772000.2021.1968975

Systematics and Biodiversity

2021

DOI: 10.1080/14772000.2021.1968975

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Molecular characterization of the spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) in the upper Magdalena River basin, Colombia: Demographic and phylogeographic insights

Diana M. Díaz-Moreno

Felipe Hernández-González

Juan F Moncada-Jimenez

et al.

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Cited by 6 publications

References 36 publications

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Not one but two: examining the genetic origin and characterization of the non-native spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) in Florida

Parks,

Godfrey,

Gross

et al. 2023

Biol Invasions

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The US state of Florida is home to an alarmingly large number of invasive species, many of which have proven detrimental to native ecosystems. Biological invasions of reptiles in particular have been a major concern in recent years. The spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) was first introduced from Latin America to Florida in the 1950’s. Given there are now established breeding populations across southern Florida, there are ongoing efforts to control them. Therefore, there is a need to understand this species’ natural history and introduction pathways. Previous studies have cited the Caribbean Coastal region of Colombia as a primary, and possibly exclusive, origin of C. crocodilus in Florida, and the species was identified as belonging to the C. c. fuscus molecular lineage. However, previous genetic sampling has been limited and may have been biased by small sample sizes and limited geographic scale. We collected 27 genetic samples from caimans captured in Florida, and sequenced the mitochondrial genes, Cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and Cytochrome B (CytB) for comparison with homologous gene fragments available for the species at GenBank. We found genetic evidence for multiple introduction events and the taxonomic classification of the Florida caimans as two distinct molecular lineages (C. c. fuscus and C. c. crocodilus) originating from at least two different regions: the Magdalena River Basin in Colombia and the Upper Branco River Basin in northern Brazil. This study helps to elucidate the genetic history of Florida caimans and provides valuable insight for population management of the species in Florida.

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Not one but two: examining the genetic origin and characterization of the non-native spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) in Florida

Parks,

Godfrey,

Gross

et al. 2023

Biol Invasions

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Phylogenetic and phylogeographic insights on Trans-Andean spectacled caiman populations in Colombia

et al. 2023

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Context Spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) is a species complex with at least eight phylogenetic lineages distributed across Central and South America. However, several populations remain unstudied, which limits a clear understanding of the relationship among lineages as well as whether all hidden diversity has been unveiled. Aim We analysed the molecular variation of spectacled caiman populations inhabiting the Colombian Trans-Andean range based on cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and cytochrome B (CytB) mitochondrial markers. Methods We performed phylogenetic and population genetic analysis to identify phylogeographic patterns and verify genetic variation across Trans-Andean spectacled caiman by using a dataset of 78 individuals from 15 localities across Colombia. Results Haplotype accumulation curve estimated that our sample sizes recovered 82.68% of all unique haplotypes. Analysis of molecular variance showed that most of the genetic variation across the Trans-Andean samples collected can be explained by macro basins (49.85%), 32.45% by localities and 17.70% by intra-specific variation within populations. Conclusions Our study confirmed that high nucleotide diversity is present in Colombian Trans-Andean spectacled caiman populations, the absence of a genetically distinguished lineage in the Choco region, as suggested by morphologic analysis, and the presence of only one molecularly well distinguished group (C. c. fuscus sensu stricto) in the in the Colombian Trans-Andean region.

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Update: Assessing the evolutionary trajectory of the Apaporis caiman (Caiman crocodilus apaporiensis, Medem 1955) via mitochondrial molecular markers

Balaguera-Reina

Angulo

Moncada-Jimenez

et al. 2022

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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The spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) is currently considered to be a species complex due to the relatively high morphological and molecular diversity expressed across its range. One of the populations of interest, inhabiting the Apaporis River (Colombia), was described based on skull features as an incipient species (C. c. apaporiensis) and has been treated by some authors as a full species. Recent molecular work challenged this hypothesis, because relatively low mitochondrial molecular differentiation was found between the morphologically described Apaporis caiman and C. crocodilus (s.s.) Amazonian populations. Here, we present an update on the topic based on a larger molecular sample size and on analysis of expanded geometric morphometric data that include six newly collected skulls. Morphometric data support the existence of previously recognized morphotypes within the complex in Colombia and demonstrate that the newly collected material can be assigned to the classic Apaporis caiman morphotype. However, our expanded genetic analysis fails to find appreciable mitochondrial molecular divergence of the Apaporis caiman population from the C. c. crocodilus population (COI-CytB: Amazon Peru 0.17 ± 0.06%, CytB-only: Caquetá River Colombia 0.08 ± 0.07%). The Apaporis caiman is interpreted to be a phenotypically distinct member of the cis-Andean C. crocodilus metapopulation that has not yet achieved (or may not be undergoing at all) appreciable genetic differentiation. Thus, it should not be considered a fully independent evolutionary lineage, nor given full species rank.

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Molecular characterization of the spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) in the upper Magdalena River basin, Colombia: Demographic and phylogeographic insights

Cited by 6 publications

References 36 publications

Not one but two: examining the genetic origin and characterization of the non-native spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) in Florida

Not one but two: examining the genetic origin and characterization of the non-native spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) in Florida

Phylogenetic and phylogeographic insights on Trans-Andean spectacled caiman populations in Colombia

Update: Assessing the evolutionary trajectory of the Apaporis caiman (Caiman crocodilus apaporiensis, Medem 1955) via mitochondrial molecular markers

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