Topic
Polychrotinae
About: Polychrotinae is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 7 publications have been published within this topic receiving 462 citations.
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TL;DR: This work investigates biogeographic relationships within the lizard genus Anolis Daudin, 1802 to test the hypothesis that the mainland Norops‐clade species descended from a West Indian Anolis ancestor.
Abstract: Aim We investigate biogeographic relationships within the lizard genus Anolis Daudin, 1802 to test the hypothesis that the mainland (Central and South American) Norops-clade species descended from a West Indian Anolis ancestor. Previous hypotheses have suggested that close island relatives of mainland Norops species (the Cuban Anolis sagrei and Jamaican A. grahami series) represent over-water dispersal from a mainland ancestor. These previous hypotheses predict that the A. sagrei and A. grahami series should be phylogenetically nested within a Norops clade whose ancestral geography traces to the mainland. If Norops is West Indian in origin, then West Indian species should span the deepest phylogenetic divergences within the Norops clade.
Location Central and South America and West Indian islands.
Methods The phylogenetic relationships of Anolis lizards are reconstructed from aligned DNA sequences using both parsimony and Bayesian approaches. Hypotheses are tested in two ways: (1) by reconstructing the ancestral geographic location for the Norops clade using Pagel & Lutzoni's (2002) Bayesian approach, and (2) by testing alternative topological arrangements via Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks tests (Templeton, 1983) and Shimodaira–Hasegawa tests (Shimodaira & Hasegawa, 1999).
Results Our evidence supports an origin of mainland Norops anoles from a West Indian ancestor. A West Indian ancestor to the Norops clade is statistically supported, and alternatives to the biogeographic pattern [Cuban (Jamaican, Mainland)] are statistically rejected by Shimodaira–Hasegawa tests, although not by Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks tests.
Main conclusions Our data support the hypothesis of a West Indian origin for mainland Norops. This result contradicts previous hypotheses and suggests that island forms may be an important source for mainland biodiversity.
222 citations
TL;DR: P phylogenetic analyses of 42 new partial mitochondrial-DNA sequences in combination with 28 previously published sequences representing all eight major groups of the lizard clade Iguanidae provide statistical support for monophyly of iguanid clades Corytophaninee, Crotaphytinae, Hoplocercinae; and Polychrotinae and Tropidurinae.
Abstract: We present phylogenetic analyses of 42 new partial mitochondrial-DNA sequences in combination with 28 previously published sequences representing all eight major groups of the lizard clade Iguanidae (sensu lato). These sequences include 1838 aligned positions (1013 parsimony informative for ingroup taxa) extending from the protein-coding gene ND1 (subunit one of NADH dehydrogenase) through the genes encoding tRNA Ile , tRNA Gln , tRNA Met , ND2 (NADH dehydrogenase subunit two), tRNA Trp , tRNA Ala , tRNA Asn , tRNA Cys , tRNA Tyr , to the protein-coding gene COI (subunit I of cytochrome c oxidase). These data, analyzed in combination with 67 previously published morphological characters, provide statistical support for monophyly of iguanid clades Corytophaninae, Crotaphytinae, Hoplocercinae, Iguaninae, Oplurinae, and Phrynosomatinae. Monophyly is neither supported nor statistically rejected for Polychrotinae and Tropidurinae. Polychrotinae* and Tropidurinae* may be recognized as metataxa, to denote the fact that evidence for their monophyly is equivocal, or replaced by recognizing constituent groups whose monophyly has stronger empirical support. A phylogenetically (non-ranked) based, statistically robust taxonomy of iguanian lizards is proposed. The Old World lizard clade, Acrodonta, is composed of Chamaeleonidae and Agamidae* with the Agaminae, Amphibolurinae, Draconinae, Hydrosaurinae, Leiolepidinae, and Uromas- tycinae nested within Agamidae*. The predominately New World clade, Iguanidae, contains the groups Corytophaninae, Crotaphytinae, Hoplocercinae, Iguaninae, Oplurinae, Phrynosomatinae, Polychrotinae*, and Tropidurinae*; with Anolis, Leiosaurini (composed of the Leiosaurae and Anisolepae), and Polychrus as the subgroups of Polychrotinae*; and Leiocephalus, Liolaemini, and Tropidurini as the subgroups of Tropidurinae*.
152 citations
TL;DR: The focus of the study was to evaluate the monophyletic status of five previously described groups of Norops: the auratus, fuscoauratus, grahami, petersi, and sagrei series, and caution future workers to refrain from assigning species to other previously described group until support for them is found, or a well supported alternative classification is proposed.
Abstract: The phylogenetic relationships among anoles have been much studied and difficult to unravel. Most work has focused on the Caribbean anoles, leaving the phylogenetic relationships among mainland anoles and the majority of Norops (beta Anolis) species virtually uninvestigated. A classification of series, subseries, and species groups within Norops was previously proposed and many workers in the field use this classification, despite a lack of understanding of the phylogenetic relationships within Norops. This paper reviews the taxonomic history and current status of Norops taxonomy. The focus of the study was to evaluate the monophyletic status of five previously described groups of Norops: the auratus, fuscoauratus, grahami, petersi, and sagrei series. Additional subgroupings below these levels were also investigated. The existing classification was tested by examining the relationships among Norops species using nuclear ITS-1 (internal transcribed spacer) DNA sequences. These data resulted in nin...
59 citations
TL;DR: Results led us to propose Gondwanan vicariance for the origin of Malagasy oplurines without invoking a land bridge connection between South America/Antarctica and drifting Madagascar/India.
Abstract: Complete or nearly complete nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial genomes (mtDNAs) were determined from eight species which, together with previous mtDNA data for two other taxa, cover most subfamilies of Iguanidae sensu lato. These iguanid mtDNAs were found to be rather conservative with respect to gene arrangements and molecular evolutionary rates, which contrasts with mtDNAs of Acrodonta (Agamidae and Chamaeleonidae) in which several gene rearrangements and highly accelerated molecular evolutionary rates have been known. Phylogenetic analyses consistently suggested the earliest shoot-off of a Malagasy subfamily Oplurinae and an affinity of Polychrotinae and Tropidurinae sensu stricto. However, even with the ample molecular characters derived from complete mtDNA sequences, phylogenetic relationships between iguanid subfamilies were poorly resolved in general, presumably due to the rapid ancient cladogenesis. Divergence time estimation without assuming the molecular clock suggested the Late Triassic/Early Jurassic divergence of Iguanidae from acrodonts and the Middle/Late Jurassic divergence of Oplurinae from the other iguanids. Together with geological and paleontological evidence, these results led us to propose Gondwanan vicariance for the origin of Malagasy oplurines without invoking a land bridge connection between South America/Antarctica and drifting Madagascar/India.
23 citations
TL;DR: A new colorful species of Polychrus with a conspicuous sexual dimorphism from the dry forest of the northern portion of Región de La Libertad, Peru, which has very small dorsal scales and thus a higher number of scales around midbody and in the middorsal line.
Abstract: We herein describe a new colorful species of Polychrus with a conspicuous sexual dimorphism from the dry forest of the northern portion of Region de La Libertad, Peru. The new species differs from all other Polychrus species, in that this species has very small dorsal scales and thus a higher number of scales around midbody and in the middorsal line from behind the occipital scales to the level of the posterior edge of the thigh. Furthermore, we redescribe Polychrus peruvianus whose original description is short and lacks information on intraspecific variation and sexual dimorphism. Also, we add some information on intraspecific variation and ecology of Polychrus gutturosus. Finally, we synonymize Polychrus spurrelli Boulenger with Polychrus gutturosus.
20 citations