A biogeographic and ecological perspective to the evolution of reproductive behaviour in the family Salamandridae

Kieren, Sarah; Sparreboom, Max; Hochkirch, Axel; Veith, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.01.006

Cited by 22 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Compared to other amphibian orders, our results reveal some interesting differences. For instance, a recent study involving 114 salamandrid species reports that the ancestral states for this clade were mating on land, oviparity and absence of amplexus (Kieren et al, 2018). The authors further suggest that the presence or absence of amplexus might be unrelated with the mating habitat.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Much more than a clasp: evolutionary patterns of amplexus diversity in anurans

Carvajal-Castro

López-Aguirre

Ospina-L

et al. 2020

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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The evolution and diversification of animal reproductive modes have been pivotal questions in behavioural ecology. Amphibians present the highest diversity of reproductive modes among vertebrates, involving various behavioural, physiological and morphological traits. One such feature is the amplexus, which is the clasp or embrace of males on females during reproduction and is found almost universally in anurans. Hypotheses about the origin of amplexus are limited and have not been tested thoroughly, nor have they taken into account evolutionary relationships in most comparative studies. However, these considerations are crucial to an understanding of the evolution of reproductive modes. Here, using an evolutionary framework, we reconstruct the ancestral state of amplexus in 685 anuran species. We investigate whether the type of amplexus has a strong phylogenetic signal and test whether sexual size dimorphism could have influenced amplexus type or male performance while clasping females. Overall, we found evidence of ≥34 evolutionary transitions in amplexus type across anurans. We found that amplexus type exhibits a high phylogenetic signal and that amplexus type does not evolve in association with sexual size dimorphism. We discuss the implications of our findings for the diversity of amplexus types across anurans.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Much more than a clasp: evolutionary patterns of amplexus diversity in anurans

Carvajal-Castro

López-Aguirre

Ospina-L

et al. 2020

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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“…Later phylogenetic studies which included sequence data from nine nuclear genes [ 27 , 28 ] supported a Calotriton/Triturus clade, but they remained ambiguous with relation to the position of Euproctus . Kieren’s et al [ 6 ] reconstruction of ancient mating behaviour within the Salamandridae is based on the tree topology inferred by [ 25 ]. They showed that both Calotriton and Euproctus evolved from lentic ancestors, hence their behavioural adaptation to lotic habitats evolved convergently and, as shown by their application of the molecular clock, at different times.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The family has a Holarctic distribution, with the majority of species living in Europe and Asia. Apart from their morphological and ecological variability, Salamandridae are known for an exceptionally broad spectrum of reproductive strategies and breeding behaviours (e.g., [ 5 , 6 ]). The evolutionary relationships of extant salamandrids were therefore repeatedly subject of phylogenetic research, starting in 1928 with Bolkay’s important analysis of cranial characters [ 7 ] and ending in the 21 st century with numerous molecular genetic studies and their in part contradicting results ( S1 Tab ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The changing views on the evolutionary relationships of extant Salamandridae (Amphibia: Urodela)

Veith

Bogaerts²,

Pasmans

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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The phylogenetic relationships among members of the family Salamandridae have been repeatedly investigated over the last 90 years, with changing character and taxon sampling. We review the changing composition and the phylogenetic position of salamandrid genera and species groups and add a new phylogeny based exclusively on sequences of nuclear genes. Salamandrina often changed its position depending on the characters used. It was included several times in a clade together with the primitive newts (Echinotriton, Pleurodeles, Tylototriton) due to their seemingly ancestral morphology. The latter were often inferred as a monophyletic clade. Respective monophyly was almost consistently established in all molecular studies for true salamanders (Chioglossa, Lyciasalamandra, Mertensiella, Salamandra), modern Asian newts (Cynops, Laotriton, Pachytriton, Paramesotriton) and modern New World newts (Notophthalmus, Taricha). Reciprocal non-monophyly has been established through molecular studies for the European mountain newts (Calotriton, Euproctus) and the modern European newts (Ichthyosaura, Lissotriton, Neurergus, Ommatotriton, Triturus) since Calotriton was identified as the sister lineage of Triturus. In pre-molecular studies, their respective monophyly had almost always been assumed, mainly because a complex courtship behaviour shared by their respective members. Our nuclear tree is nearly identical to a mito-genomic tree, with all but one node being highly supported. The major difference concerns the position of Calotriton, which is no longer nested within the modern European newts. This has implications for the evolution of courtship behaviour of European newts. Within modern European newts, Ichthyosaura and Lissotriton changed their position compared to the mito-genomic tree. Previous molecular trees based on seemingly large nuclear data sets, but analysed together with mitochondrial data, did not reveal monophyly of modern European newts since taxon sampling and nuclear gene coverage was too poor to obtain conclusive results. We therefore conclude that mitochondrial and nuclear data should be analysed on their own.

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“…kaiseri, and N. strauchii (including the subspecies barani, strauchii and munzurensis). The monophyly of the genus has been well established based on nuclear allozyme and mitochondrial DNA sequence data (Steinfartz et al, 2002) and phylogenetic reconstructions within the Salamandridae, based on complete mitogenomes and nuclear sequences (Kieren et al, 2018;Veith et al, 2018;Zhang et al, 2008), placed it as sister group to Near Eastern newts of the genus Ommatotriton. The relationships within Neurergus have also been studied using a variety of molecular markers (Hendrix et al, 2014;Steinfartz et al, 2002), but always based on a limited number of loci.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%