Morphological diversity and phylogenetic relationships within a south-american clade of iguanian lizards (Liolaemidae: Phymaturus)

LOBO F., C. ABDALA, Y S. VALDECANTOS

ZOOTAXA

MAGNOLIA PRESS

Año: 2012 vol. 3315 p. 1 - 41

1175-5326

The iguanian lizard genus Phymaturus, with 27 described species and at least 9 additional lineages not yet formally described, represents a highly endemic clade of vertebrates in the arid southwestern region of South America, confined mostly to the Andes and adjacent Patagonian and Puna regions of Argentina and Chile. In this work, the phylogenetic relationships of the species of Phymaturus are inferred, based primarily on a morphological data set with 206 characters. Additionally, sequences of mitochondrial DNA for 7 terminals are included for a total evidence analysis. Most of the information is included in the discrete characters block that involves color pattern, and characteristic of the skeleton and squamation. Continuous characters are employed for body proportions, squamation and skeletal characters. Among morphological data, polymorphic characters were analyzed applying the scaled coding criteria (for binary polymorphisms). Continuous characters were entered in the analysis using standardized ranges, a method that allows a simple optimization to estimate distances/costs avoiding arbitrary discretization. For our parsimony analysis we choose the implied weights method which underweights homoplastic characters. Several runs were made analyzing all of the information combined and also separating morphological from molecular data sets. Binary polymorphisms were also analyzed as missing data. All characters effected by sexual dimorphism were analyzed separating sexes; female information is more congruent with the total evidence analysis.