Phylogeographic Study of Liolaemus buergeri (Iguania: LiolaeminI) Based on Two Mitochondrial and Two Nuclear Gene Sequences

MEDINA, C.D.; AVILA, L.J.; SITES, J.W., JR.; MORANDO, M.

Albuquerque

Congreso; Joint Meeting Ichthyology and Herpetology 2013; 2013

SSAR/HL/ASIH

Liolaemus is the most southerly distributed lizard genus in South America, with more than 230 described species. Within Liolaemus, several clades and species complexes have been proposed, including the kriegi complex proposed in 1986 by Cei. This complex includes species distributed in Argentinean and Chilean Patagonia. Described species of the complex are: L. kriegi, L. ceii and L. buergeri and candidate species are: L. sp. A, L. sp. B, L. sp. C and L. sp. D. The aim of this study is to present an extended and intensive phylogeographic study of Liolaemus buergeri and closely related candidate species. The sampling sites encompass an area from south of Mendoza province to central Neuquén province, covering the entire distribution range of this species with intensive population sampling. We used 154 individuals from 43 localities, for which we sequenced two fragments of mitochondrial genes (cytb, ~800 bp and 12s, ~850 bp), and for a subset of samples, two nuclear markers (KIF24, ~490 bp and BA3, ~265 bp). We generated gene trees and single marker as well as multilocus networks. Based on the cytochrome-b fragment we performed standard genetic diversity and demographic analysis for many well-supported clades recovered in the gene trees. We performed statistical comparative analysis based on traditional morphological characters for each of the main clades. We discuss these results within geographical, demographic and evolutionary contexts. The evidence indicates that candidate species are populations of very recent origin with different degrees of differentiation, some of which could be considered full species.