Palm‐Pitviper (Bothriechis) Phylogeny, mtDNA, and Consilience

Abstract

The phylogeny of the neotropical palm-pitviper genuswith Ophryachus as the sister lineage. Crother et al. Bothriechis has been previously inferred from morphol- (1992) inferred the phylogeny of Bothriechis with alloogy and allozymes. These nuclear-based data sets were zymes and morphology and found the two data sets found to be congruent and also consilient with the geo-to be congruent (Fig. 2). They (Crother et al., 1992) also logic history of the region. We present mtDNA sequence detailed the historical biogeography of Bothriechis and data as an additional data set in the inference of the models of the vicariant history of Middle America Bothriechis phylogeny and analyze it separately and com-and determined these to be entirely consilient with bined with previous data. The mtDNA phylogeny is their phylogenetic hypotheses of Bothriechis relationincongruent with the nuclear data sets. Based on a numships. Werman (1997) found that lactate dehydrogeber of factors, we hypothesize that the incongruence is nase phenotypes corroborated his hypothesis of a modue to both mtDNA introgression and lineage sorting.nophyletic Bothriechis. Gutberlet (1998) employed We argue that mtDNA represents extrinsic data and as morphological data in a phylogenetic study of Middle such should be used as a consilient data set. ᭧ 2001 The American pitvipers and his phylogeny corroborated Willi Hennig Society Werman's (1992, 1997) hypothesis, with the placement of Ophryachus as sister to a monophyletic Bothriechis. Most recently, Parkinson (1999) used 12S and 16S Palm-Pitviper Phylogeny 357 mtDNA an ideal choice in which to frame a consilient test (T. W. Taggart et al., submitted for publication). The purpose of this study was to infer a mtDNA phylogeny of Bothriechis and to employ it in a consilient fashion to test the previous nuclear-based phylogeny. METHODSWhole genomic DNA, including the mtDNA, was extracted from muscle and liver using a standard phenol-chloroform protocol. One specimen each of Bothriechis bicolor (Bb), B. marchi (Bm), B. rowleyi (Br), and B. aurifer (Ba); two specimens each of B. lateralis (Bl) and Ophryacus undulatus (Ou); and three specimens of B. schlegelii (Bs) were used. Sources of tissues and/ or DNAs are given in the Appendix. The 12S sequence for B. nigroviridis (Bn) was from Parkinson (1999) and was included in the alignment and subsequent analysis. FIG. 2. The morphology-and allozyme-based phylogeny inferred by Crother et al. (1992).TABLE 6-Continued

Comparative phylogeography of pitvipers suggests a consensus of ancient Middle American highland biogeography

“…Like Castoe & Parkinson (2006), we found strong support ( Fig. 2a) for B. lateralis forming the sister group to the northern Central American highland Bothriechis species, counter to the estimate that B. lateralis is the sister lineage to B. bicolor (Crother et al, 1992; see also Taggart et al, 2001). The sister-lineage relationship between B. lateralis and B. bicolor was also rejected by SH tests (P < 0.001) and AU tests (P < 0.001).…”

“…2). Our mitochondrial phylogeny of Bothriechis and that of the combined data of Taggart et al (2001: Fig. 6b) are essentially the same; both place B. lateralis as the sister lineage to the northern highland species.…”

“…Modern biogeographical hypotheses rely on the synthesis of multiple layers of inference, including distribution patterns of lineages, phylogeny and divergence time estimates, rendering biogeographical inferences sensitive to all these underlying estimates. The phylogeny of Bothriechis has been controversial (Crother et al, 1992;Taggart et al, 2001;Castoe & Parkinson, 2006) largely because a previous study (Taggart et al, 2001) suggested that conflicting phylogenetic estimates from morphology plus allozymes vs. mitochondrial gene sequences indicated that mitochondrial introgression and/or incomplete lineage sorting may confound mitochondrial gene phylogenies of the group. Based on allozyme and morphological data, Crother et al (1992) suggested that B. lateralis was phylogenetically nested within northern Middle American highland lineages (sister to B. aurifer), rather than the sister group to all northern highland species, as in our phylogenetic placement (Fig.…”

“…6b) are essentially the same; both place B. lateralis as the sister lineage to the northern highland species. The conclusion of Taggart et al (2001), however, was that the mitochondrial tree was incorrect because it differed from a tree estimated from morphological and allozyme characters (from Crother et al, 1992). In unpublished analyses, we have examined multiple nuclear genes and sampled mitochondrial haplotypes extensively within species of Bothriechis, and all available data have failed to reveal evidence of incomplete lineage sorting, hybridization or mitochondrial vs. nuclear gene tree incongruence (C.L.…”

Evolutionary insights into the North AmericanNecturus beyericomplex (Amphibia: Caudata) based on molecular genetic and morphological analyses

“…We acknowledge that mtDNA genes are extrinsic data relative to the evolution of whole organisms and, thus, can have evolutionary histories incongruent with species' evolutionary histories (e.g., Taggart, Crother, & White, 2001). However, these genes have proved useful in examining historical patterns within taxa of the southeastern Coastal Plain (Soltis et al, 2006).…”