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

L. A. BECKER; J. M. BORETTO; F. CABEZAS-CARTES; S. MÁRQUEZ; E. KUBISCH; A. SCOLARO; B. SINERVO; N. R. IBARGÜENGOYTÍA

ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2018

0024-4082

An integrative approach to elucidate the taxonomicstatus of five species of Phymaturus Gravenhorst, 1837(Squamata: Liolaemidae) from northwestern Patagonia,ArgentinaL. A. BECKER1*, J. M. BORETTO2, F. CABEZAS-CARTES2, S. MÁRQUEZ2, E. KUBISCH2,J. A. SCOLARO3,4, B. SINERVO5 and N. R. IBARGÜENGOYTÍA21Instituto Andino Patagónico de Tecnologı́as Biológicas y Geoambientales, CONICET-UNComahue,Quintral 1250, S. C. de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina 2Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente, CONICET-UNComahue, Quintral 1250,S. C. de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina 3Centro Nacional Patagónico, CONICET, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina4Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Trelew,Chubut, Argentina5Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USAReceived 13 November 2017; revised 8 May 2018; accepted for publication 18 May 2018The lizard genus Phymaturus comprises two reciprocally monophyletic clades: Phymaturus palluma and Phymaturuspatagonicus. Species belonging to the P. patagonicus clade occur in extra-Andean Patagonia, and some of them remainwith unresolved phylogenetic relationships after studies based on morphological and nuclear and mitochondrialDNA (mtDNA) evidence. Here, we elucidate the taxonomic status of five putative species originally described accordingto morphotypes based upon morphometric and meristic characteristics and dorsal colour pattern: Phymaturusagilis, Phymaturus excelsus, Phymaturus manuelae, Phymaturus spectabilis and Phymaturus spurcus. We amplifieda 657 bp fragment of COI mtDNA from 23 individuals and a 2708 bp fragment of cytochrome b, ND1, ND2 and eighttransfer RNAs from another 114 individuals. We found strong support for two reciprocally monophyletic geneticlineages: a small clade for P. manuelae and a large polytomic clade for the rest of the presumed species. A haplotypenetwork analysis unveiled a genetic structure for lineages in the large clade, suggesting that morphological differencesare a consequence of population divergence. To complement the molecular analyses, we estimated morphotypeproportions in populations and estimated morph heritability with the regression of offspring on females bearingspecies-typical phenotypes. Our results indicate that P. agilis, P. excelsus, P. spectabilis and P. spurcus compose asingle highly structured species.ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: Bayesian phylogenetic inference ? haplotype networks ? heritability ? morphotypes? Phymaturus agilis ? Phymaturus excelsus ? Phymaturus manuelae ? Phymaturus patagonicus ? Phymaturusspectabilis ? Phymaturus spurcus