Evidence of hybridization in the Argentinean lizards Liolaemus gracilis and L. bibronii (IGUANIA: LIOLAEMINI): an integrative approach based on genes and morphology

OLAVE, M.; MARTINEZ, L.E.; AVILA, L. J.; SITES, J.W., JR.; MORANDO, M.

MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2011 vol. 61 p. 381 - 391

1055-7903

Hybridization generally refers to the mating of two distinct types of organisms, often species, resulting in the production of a hybrid organism that shares genetic information with both parental organisms. The mitochondrial genome, against a nuclear background, is particularly useful to detect introgression, because a lack of recombination insures that all base positions introgress as a completely linked block. Genetic data should be intregrated with ancillary information, whether it is ecological, morphological, geographical, geological, or functional in nature, to maximizing evolutionary and ecological insights. Spatial patterns of gene tree incongruence and the localization of discordance near phylogeographic boundaries may be a signature of current or historical gene flow. The lizard genus Liolaemus is endemic to temperate South America and includes more than 225 species. Liolaemus gracilis and L. bibronii are closely related species that have a large geographic distribution. The objective of this work is to further investigate the L. bibronii - L. gracilis mtDNA paraphyletic pattern previously detected, using an integrative approach, based on mtDNA, nuclear DNA and morphological characters. We identified eight morphological L. bibronii introgressed with L. gracilis mtDNAs, and the reciprocal for one L. gracilis, from six localities in the region of sympatry overlap, and present the first well-supported evidence of hybridization between Liolaemus species.