An integrative approach to elucidate the taxonomic status of five species of Phymaturus Gravenhorst, 1837 (Squamata: Liolaemidae) from northwestern Patagonia, Argentina

BECKER, LA; MÁRQUEZ, S; SINERVO, B; BORETTO, JM; KUBISCH, E; IBARGÜENGOYTÍA, NR; CABEZAS-CARTES, F; SCOLARO, JA

ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2019 vol. 185 p. 268 - 282

0024-4082

The lizard genusPhymaturuscomprises two reciprocally monophyletic clades: pallumaand patagonicus.Species belonging to the patagonicusclade occur in extra-Andean Patagonia, some of them remaining withunresolved phylogenetic relationships after studies based onmorphological as well as nuclear and mtDNA evidence. Here, weelucidate the taxonomic status of five putative species originallydescribed according to morphotypes based upon morphometric andmeristic characteristics and dorsal colour pattern: P.agilis,P. excelsus,P.manuelae,P. spectabilis,and P.spurcus.We amplified a 657-bp fragment of COImtDNA from 23 individuals and a 2708-bp fragment of cytochrome b,ND1,ND2and eight tRNAs from another 114 individuals. We found strong supportfor two reciprocally monophyletic genetic lineages: a small clade forP.manuelaeand a large polytomic clade for the rest of the presumed species. Ahaplotype network analysis unveiled a genetic structure for lineagesin the large clade, suggesting morphological differences are aconsequence of population divergence. To complement the molecularanalyses, we estimated morphotype proportions in populations andestimated morph heritability with the regression of offspring onfemales bearing species-typical phenotypes. Our results indicate thatP.agilis,P. excelsus,P. spectabilis,and P.spurcuscomprise a single highly-structured species.p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 10); line-height: 120%; text-align: left; }p.western { font-family: "Liberation Serif", "Times New Roma", serif; font-size: 12pt; }p.cjk { font-family: "Source Han Sans CN Regular"; font-size: 12pt; }p.ctl { font-family: "Lohit Devanagari"; font-size: 12pt; }a.western:visited { }a.cjk:visited { }a.ctl:visited { }