The role of Central American barriers in shaping the evolutionary history of the northernmost glassfrog,Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni(Anura: Centrolenidae)

Abstract

The complex geological history of Central America has been useful for understanding the processes influencing the distribution and diversity of multiple groups of organisms. Anurans are an excellent choice for such studies because they typically exhibit site fidelity and reduced movement. The objective of this work was to identify the impact of recognized geographic barriers on the genetic structure, phylogeographic patterns and divergence times of a wide-ranging amphibian species, Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni. We amplified three mitochondrial regions, two coding (COI and ND1) and one ribosomal (16S), in samples collected from the coasts of Veracruz and Guerrero in Mexico to the humid forests of Chocó in Ecuador. We examined the biogeographic history of the species through spatial clustering analyses (Geneland and sPCA), Bayesian and maximum likelihood reconstructions, and spatiotemporal diffusion analysis. Our data suggest a Central American origin of H. fleischmanni and two posterior independent dispersals towards North and South American regions. The first clade comprises individuals from Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and the sister species Hyalinobatrachium tatayoi; this clade shows little structure, despite the presence of the Andes mountain range and the long distances between sampling sites. The second clade consists of individuals from Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and eastern Honduras with no apparent structure. The third clade includes individuals from western Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico and displays deep population structure. Herein, we synthesize the impact of known geographic areas that act as barriers to glassfrog dispersal and demonstrated their effect of differentiating H. fleischmanni into three markedly isolated clades. The observed genetic structure is associated with an initial dispersal event from Central America followed by vicariance that likely occurred during the Pliocene. The southern samples are characterized by a very recent population expansion, likely related to sea-level and climatic oscillations during the Pleistocene, whereas the structure of the northern clade has probably been driven by dispersal through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and isolation by the Motagua–Polochic–Jocotán fault system and the Mexican highlands.

Neoponera Emery, 1901 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) revisited: 1. The N. laevigata species-group

“…comm. ), with the Hess Escarpment potentially acting as a biogeographic barrier not only for this group but for other biota as well (see Mendoza et al 2019).…”

Historical biogeography of the genusRhadinaea(Squamata: Dipsadinae)

“…Across the North and Central American regions, multiple geological and climatic events resulting from a complex orogeny and paleoclimatic conditions acted as geographical or ecological barriers associated with the speciation and diversification of many taxa (e.g., Bryson, et al., 2011 ; Daza et al., 2010 ; Ferrusquía‐Villafranca & González‐Guzmán, 2005 ; Vanzolini, 1970 ). Some of the events that are considered of major importance or that have received the most attention are as follows: (a) The Mississippi River Basin (MR) (Burbrink et al., 2000 ), which was involved in the divergence of many marine and terrestrial taxa during the Pleistocene (Soltis et al., 2006 ); (b) the last formation of three of the four major mountain ranges in Mexico (i.e., the Sierra Madre Occidental [SMOc], Sierra Madre Oriental [SMOr], and Sierra Madre del Sur [SMS]; Ferrusquía‐Villafranca & González‐Guzmán, 2005 ) during the Paleogene and early Neogene (Padilla y Sánchez, 2007 ), which probably predate the origin of most extant species (Bryson et al., 2012 ); (c) the formation of the Trans‐Mexican Volcanic Belt (TVB) during the Neogene (~20–1 million years [Ma]) (Ferrari et al., 2012 ; Gómez‐Tuena et al., 2007 ) in four major orogenic events (Ferrari et al., 2012 ) that undoubtedly affected both the timing and tempo of the biota diversification (Bryson et al., 2012a , 2012b ); (d) the faulting and marine introgressions across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (IT) in southeastern Mexico around 3 Ma (Mulcahy et al., 2006 ), a region which is a narrow lowland area that has been identified as a biogeographical barrier for many upland taxa (Castoe et al., 2009 ); (e) the Nicaraguan depression (ND), an area that presented different states of terrestrial conformation during the Neogene (2.5–23 Ma) (Funk et al., 2009 ) and probably presented a lowland biogeographical barrier to some taxa (Daza et al., 2010 ); (f) the Panama Isthmus in southern Central America, another narrow area that was completely conformed during the Pliocene (3.5 Ma), which has separated numerous taxa between Central and South America (Mendoza et al., 2019 ); and (g) the climatic fluctuations during the Pleistocene (0.01–2.5 Ma) (Vanzolini, 1970 ) that conditioned the diversification of a variety of taxa across the American continent through the repeated expansion and contraction of coniferous forests, leading isolated populations of forest‐adapted taxa to speciation (Haffer, 1969 , 1997 ).…”

Bioacoustics characterization and habitat use of glass frogs in El Salvador

“…Hyalinobatrachium is a genus of the Centrolenidae family known as glassfrogs, this group is widely distributed within tropical forests from Mexico to some regions of South America (Mendoza et al, 2019;Frost, 2022). Currently, the genus contains 35 valid species (Frost, 2022).…”

“…Currently, the genus contains 35 valid species (Frost, 2022). In the last years, the species of this genus have been studied, and their taxonomy and distribution have been debated (Mendoza et al, 2019;Mendoza-Henao et al, 2020). This group has recently undergone some taxonomic changes, and this change has affected mainly species that occur in the Central America region.…”