Genetic and Ecogeographic Controls on Species Cohesion in Australia’s Most Diverse Lizard Radiation

Prates, Ivan; Singhal, Sonal; Marchán-Rivadeneira, María R.; Grundler, Maggie R.; Moritz, Craig; Donnellan, S. C.; Rabosky, Daniel L.

doi:10.1086/717411

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 130 publications

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“…Then, we assembled reads using rainbow version 2.04 (Chong et al, 2012). Like many squamate species (Leaché & Fujita, 2010; Singhal, Hoskin, et al, 2018), nominal species in Ctenotus and Lerista often comprise multiple, cryptic lineages (Prates et al, 2022; Rabosky et al, 2014; Singhal, Huang, et al, 2018). Accordingly, we first delimited putative operational taxonomic units (OTUs) across these genera.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic variability and the ecology of geographic range: A test of the central‐marginal hypothesis in Australian scincid lizards

2022

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Whether they are big or small, species geographic ranges can be divided into core and edge populations. Verbal models from macroecology and population genetics predict that patterns of population abundance, individual fitness, and genetic diversity should differ across core and edge populations (Brown, 1984;Sagarin & Gaines, 2002), which can then contribute to the formation of range limits (García-Ramos & Kirkpatrick, 1997;Gaston, 2003).At the centre of their range, species are hypothesized to be optimally adapted for the habitat, allowing them to maintain large, interconnected populations characterized by high local abundance (Brown, 1984;Sagarin & Gaines, 2002). Moving away from the centre, the habitat becomes more marginal, leading to decreased reproductive output (Angert, 2006;Gaston, 2009;Pigott & Huntley, 1981). Or, favourable habitat may become increasingly patchy towards the range edge, leading to depression of regional abundance relative to range centres. Populations towards

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic variability and the ecology of geographic range: A test of the central‐marginal hypothesis in Australian scincid lizards

2022

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“…While Ctenotus has been relatively June 2022 https://doi.org/10.18061/bssb.v1i2.8720 C. schomburgkii due to a superficial morphological similarity between both combined with a poor understanding of phenotypic variation within C. schomburgkii. We also infer the phylogenetic relationships of the new species relative to other taxa thought to be closely allied to C. schomburgkii based on morphological and molecular evidence (Storr et al 1999;Singhal et al 2017;Prates et al 2022). In doing so, we provide a test of whether Storr's phenetic species groups, erected as aides to species identification in Ctenotus lizards, also reflect evolutionary relationships.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…A remarkable example is the large elapid snake Oxyuranus temporalis, the first specimen of which was only collected in 2006 (Doughty et al 2007). Recently described desert species highlight our inadequate knowledge of the composition of Australian squamate assemblages, which in turn limits our understanding of biogeographic patterns and the evolution of regional biotas (Pepper and Keogh 2021;Prates et al 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, recent studies incorporating molecular data have found that certain nominal taxa contain multiple divergent genetic lineages, with targeted morphological examinations supporting the recognition of new species (Rabosky et al 2017). Similarly, comprehensive comparative analyses of Ctenotus have identified potentially unrecognized species diversity based on marked genetic differentiation (Singhal et al 2017;Prates et al 2022). Much of this undescribed diversity occurs in Australia's arid zone, highlighting persistent knowledge gaps about species boundaries and distributions in the world's most diverse lizard fauna.…”

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“…In this contribution, we dissect the potential for unrecognized diversity within what is currently regarded as a single species, Ctenotus schomburgkii (Peters 1863). Previous studies of this wide-ranging taxon reported extensive variation in coloration (Storr et al 1999) and spatial genetic structure (Singhal et al 2018;Prates et al 2022). To assess whether this variation reflects unrecognized species diversity, we combine morphological, mitochondrial, and genome-wide nuclear data.…”

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A new lizard species (Scincidae: Ctenotus) highlights persistent knowledge gaps on the biodiversity of Australia’s central deserts

Prates

Hutchinson

Huey

et al. 2022

BSSB

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Australia harbors the most diverse lizard assemblages on Earth, yet the biodiversity of its vast arid zone remains incompletely characterized. Recent sampling of remote regions has revealed new species with unique phenotypes and unclear evolutionary affinities. Here, we describe a new species of scincid lizard that appears to be widely distributed across the Great Victoria Desert and adjacent regions. The new species was previously overlooked among specimens of the wide-ranging desert taxon Ctenotus schomburgkii but is distinguished from it by coloration and scalation characters. Phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial and genome-wide nuclear loci confirmed that the new species is highly divergent from C. schomburgkii, with which it appears to be sympatric across much of its range. In addition to the new species, our survey of genetic variation within C. schomburgkii as currently recognized revealed three additional lineages that approach one another in southern and northwestern Australia, and which may also represent distinct species. These results suggest that our knowledge of the extraordinary biodiversity of arid Australia remains incomplete, with implications for the conservation and management of this unique fauna. The targeted collection of voucher specimens in undersampled regions, coupled with population genetic screening of lineage diversity, will be crucial for characterizing species boundaries and understanding the composition of Australia’s vertebrate communities.

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Subspecies at crossroads: the evolutionary significance of genomic and phenotypic variation in a wide-ranging Australian lizard (Ctenotus pantherinus)

Prates

Doughty

Rabosky

2022

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

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Many subspecies were described to capture phenotypic variation in wide-ranging taxa, with some later being found to correspond to divergent genetic lineages. We investigate whether currently recognized subspecies correspond to distinctive and coherent evolutionary lineages in the widespread Australian lizard Ctenotus pantherinus based on morphological, mitochondrial and genome-wide nuclear variation. We find weak and inconsistent correspondence between morphological patterns and the presumed subspecies ranges, with character polymorphism within regions and broad morphological overlap across regions. Phylogenetic analyses suggest paraphyly of populations assignable to each subspecies, mitonuclear discordance and little congruence between subspecies ranges and the distribution of inferred clades. Genotypic clustering supports admixture across regions. These results undermine the presumed phenotypic and genotypic coherence and distinctiveness of C. pantherinus subspecies. Based on our findings, we comment on the operational and conceptual shortcomings of morphologically defined subspecies and discuss practical challenges in applying the general notion of subspecies as incompletely separated population lineages. We conclude by highlighting a historical asymmetry that has implications for ecology, evolution and conservation: subspecies proposed in the past are difficult to falsify even in the face of new data that challenge their coherence and distinctiveness, whereas modern researchers appear hesitant to propose new subspecies.

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Genetic and Ecogeographic Controls on Species Cohesion in Australia’s Most Diverse Lizard Radiation

Cited by 7 publications

References 130 publications

Genetic variability and the ecology of geographic range: A test of the central‐marginal hypothesis in Australian scincid lizards

Genetic variability and the ecology of geographic range: A test of the central‐marginal hypothesis in Australian scincid lizards

A new lizard species (Scincidae: Ctenotus) highlights persistent knowledge gaps on the biodiversity of Australia’s central deserts

Subspecies at crossroads: the evolutionary significance of genomic and phenotypic variation in a wide-ranging Australian lizard (Ctenotus pantherinus)

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