Phylogenetic Relationships of the Flying Lizards, Genus Draco (Reptilia, Agamidae)

Abstract

Phylogenetic relationships among 12 species of the genus Draco were inferred from 779 base pairs of mitochondrial 12S and 16S rRNA genes and allozymes for 20 presumptive loci. Results indicated the presence of at least four distinct lineages within the genus. The first lineage consists of D. volans and D. cornutus, whereas the second only of D. lineatus, which exhibits a great genetic divergence between two subspecies. The third is monotypic with D. dussumieri, the only species distributed in southern India. The fourth included all the remaining species. The third and fourth lineages are supposed to exclusively share a common ancestor. It is likely that the common ancestor of whole Draco originally diverged into three groups, the ancestors of the first, second, and third and fourth lineages, by vicariance. In the fourth lineage, D. blanfordii, D. haematopogon, D. melanopogon, D. obscurus and D. taeniopterus are likely to be exclusively close to each other. The resultant phylogenetic tree contradicts the dichotomous relationships previously hypothesized on the basis of morphological characters.

Phylogenetic Relationships of the Family Agamidae (Reptilia: Iguania) Inferred from Mitochondrial DNA Sequences.

“…We also incorporated into the analyses the published data (Honda et al, 1999a;Ota et al, 1999: Table 1). Although we examined only one chameleon (Bradypodion fischeri) in the present study, its designation as the representative of all chameleons should not lead to any substantial error in the results of the analyses, because the monophyly of this taxon, supported by a number of synapomorphs, deserves no doubt (e.g., Rieppel, 1981;Frost and Etheridge, 1989).…”

“…Infrafamilial groups of the Agamidae defined in the previous studies and localities. Data sources are (A) present study; (B) Honda et al (1999a); (C) Ota et al (1999) et al, 1988) with primers L1091, H1478, L2606, and H3056 (Kocher et al, 1989;Hedges et al, 1993).…”

Phylogenetic Position of Draco fimbriatus, with a Molecular Perspective on the Historical Biogeography of the Genus Draco (Reptilia: Agamidae).

“…1). Based on the DNA sequence data, Honda et al (1999b) negated this view, and recognized at least four distinct lineages within the genus. Their analyses, however, failed to resolve the relationships of these major lineages in detail.…”

“…Their analyses, however, failed to resolve the relationships of these major lineages in detail. Honda et al (1999b) did not investigate nine species of Draco. Of these, D. mindanensis, D. spilopterus, and six recently described or revalidated species (Lazell, 1987(Lazell, , 1992Ross and Lazell, 1990) were nevertheless surmised to be closely related E-mail address: panda@zoo.zool.kyoto-u.ac.jp.…”

“…The absence of those eight species from the analyses does not thus seem to have imposed any crucial effect on the resultant general picture of the phylogeny and biogeography of the genus (Honda et al, 1999b). In contrast, absence of the other species, D, fimbriatus, was supposedly more problematic because its relationship with other congeneric species was uncertain (Musters, 1983).…”