Coalescent species delimitation of a Sumatran parachuting frog

Abstract

We conduct species delimitation of the widespread parachuting frog species Rhacophorus catamitus using samples from across the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. We use mitochondrial, genomic and morphological data, and find that R. catamitus is composed of three lineages corresponding to northern, central and southern lineages. Mitochondrial and genomic data show admixture or incomplete lineage sorting between the central and southern lineages, but deep divergence from the northern lineage. Coalescent species delimitation supports a three species model for this complex, and we recommend that the northern lineage be described as a new species. Our study highlights the power of coalescent species delimitation in an integrative framework for identifying unrecognised diversity in understudied tropical species complexes. We also emphasise the evolutionary importance of northern Sumatra, a region that harboured montane refugia during Pliocene-Pleistocene climate change, but has also been heavily affected by volcanic activity.

Phylogeny and species reassessment of Hyalopterus (Aphididae, Aphidinae)

“…Recently, the ever‐increasing availability of multilocus sequences and the emergence of robust coalescent‐based species delimitation approaches have facilitated the uncovering of cryptic species diversity and have provided the unprecedented complement to understand the processes of speciation (Bellati et al, 2015; Busschau, Conradie, & Daniels, 2019; Domingos et al, 2014; Domingos, Colli, Lemmon, Lemmon, & Beheregaray, 2017; Fujita, Leache, Burbrink, McGuire, & Moritz, 2012; Hurtado‐Burillo, May‐Itzá, Quezada‐Eúan, Rúa, & Ruiz, 2017; Kotsakiozi et al, 2018; O'Connell et al, 2018; Solis‐Lemus, Knowles, & Ane, 2015). Among the methods for species delimitation, the multispecies coalescent model (MSC; Fujita et al, 2012; Rannala & Yang, 2003; Yang & Rannala, 2010, 2014) analyzing multiple loci to test alternative hypotheses of lineage divergence, is the most prevalent and has been successfully applied to delimit species for a broad array of organisms, from animals and plants (Denham, Brignone, Johnson, & Pozner, 2019; Matos‐Maraví et al, 2019) to microbial groups (Galen, Nunes, Sweet, & Perkins, 2018).…”