Five Independent Lineages Revealed by Integrative Taxonomy in the <i>Dendropsophus nanus</i>–<i>Dendropsophus walfordi</i> Species Complex
Karin Regina Seger,
Bernardo Franco da Veiga Teixeira,
Fabiane Santana Annibale,
Denise de Cerqueira Rossa-Feres,
Albertina Pimentel Lima,
Gilda Vasconcellos Andrade,
Ariovaldo Antonio Giaretta,
Luciana Bolsoni Lourenço
Affiliations
Karin Regina Seger
Departamento de Biologia Estrutural e Funcional, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13086-863, SP, Brazil
Bernardo Franco da Veiga Teixeira
Laboratório de Taxonomia, Sistemática e Ecologia Comportamental de Anuros Neotropicais, Faculdade de Ciências Integradas do Pontal, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU), Rua 20 no 1.600, Bairro Tupã, Ituiutaba 38304-402, MG, Brazil
Fabiane Santana Annibale
Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), São José do Rio Preto 15054-000, SP, Brazil
Denise de Cerqueira Rossa-Feres
Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), São José do Rio Preto 15054-000, SP, Brazil
Albertina Pimentel Lima
Coordenadoria de Pesquisas em Ecologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus 69011-970, AM, Brazil
Gilda Vasconcellos Andrade
Departamento de Biologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Maranhão (UFMA), Campus do Bacanga, São Luís 65080-040, MA, Brazil
Ariovaldo Antonio Giaretta
Laboratório de Taxonomia, Sistemática e Ecologia Comportamental de Anuros Neotropicais, Faculdade de Ciências Integradas do Pontal, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU), Rua 20 no 1.600, Bairro Tupã, Ituiutaba 38304-402, MG, Brazil
Luciana Bolsoni Lourenço
Departamento de Biologia Estrutural e Funcional, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13086-863, SP, Brazil
One of the many taxonomic challenges found in the Dendropsophus microcephalus species group is the Dendropsophus walfordi distinction from D. nanus. Recent phylogenetic inferences have indicated the paraphyly of these species, although they were not designed to assess this issue. To contribute to the delimitation of these species, we analyzed the 12S, 16S and COI mitochondrial genes, the morphological traits, and the advertisement calls of specimens from northern Amazonia to Argentina, including the type localities of D. nanus and D. walfordi. Paraphyly of D. nanus with respect to D. walfordi was inferred by maximum-parsimony and Bayesian analyses, and five major clades exhibiting nonoverlapping geographic distributions were recognized. The bPTP and ABGD analyses supported the existence of five independently evolving lineages in this complex. Acoustic and morphological data clearly distinguished the clade that included the topotypes of D. walfordi from the others, corroborating the validity of this species. To avoid the paraphyly of D. nanus with respect to D. walfordi, we recognize the clade distributed from central-southern Brazil to Argentina as D. nanus, the clade distributed in Amazonia as D. walfordi, and discuss the existence of unnamed cryptic species closely related to D. nanus and D. walfordi.
