First clues to an evolutionary puzzle in Patagonian lizards in the boulengeri-rothi complex

OLAVE, M.; MORANDO, M.; AVILA, L.J.; SITES, J., JR.

Moscow, Idaho, USA

Congreso; Evolution Meeting 2009; 2009

The southern temperate South America herpetofauna is dominated in species richness by lizards of the clade Liolaemini, which include the genera Liolaemus (>200 species), Phymaturus (23 species), and Ctenoblepharys (one species). The South American iguanian genus Liolaemus is one of the largest living vertebrate clades. The extraordinary rates of speciation observed in this group are coupled with notable diversity in phenotypic specializations, ecology, behaviour and geographical distribution. Liolaemus occur in almost all available habitats in central-southern and southern South America. In Argentina, Julio Koslowsky (1898) described L. boulengeri from the ‘territorios del Chubut y del Neuquén’ and L. rothi from the ‘territorio del Neuquén. Cei (1986) extended the range of L. boulengeri from central Santa Cruz to northern Mendoza Provinces and the geographic distribution of L. rothi from southwestern Neuquén Province southward through southwestern Río Negro Province to the East. More recently, a number of new species have been described from the originally named L. boulengeri and L. rothi. A previous study (Avila et. al. 2006) based on a mitocondrial gene, does not recover the monophyly of the boulengeri-rothi species complex. This study focuses on reconstructing phylogenetic relationships among species of the boulengeri-rothi species complex by using the Cyt b mitochondrial.