Unravelling interspecific relationships among highland lizards: first phylogenetic hypothesis using total evidence of the Liolaemus montanus group (Iguania: Liolaemidae)

Abstract

The South American lizard genus Liolaemus comprises > 260 species, of which > 60 are recognized as members of the Liolaemus montanus group, distributed throughout the Andes in central Peru, Bolivia, Chile and central Argentina. Despite its great morphological diversity and complex taxonomic history, a robust phylogenetic estimate is still lacking for this group. Here, we study the morphological and molecular diversity of the L. montanus group and present the most complete quantitative phylogenetic hypothesis for the group to date. Our phylogeny includes 103 terminal taxa, of which 91 are members of the L. montanus group (58 are assigned to available species and 33 are of uncertain taxonomic status). Our matrix includes 306 morphological and ecological characters and 3057 molecular characters. Morphological characters include 48 continuous and 258 discrete characters, of which 70% (216) are new to the literature. The molecular characters represent five mitochondrial markers. We performed three analyses: a morphology-only matrix, a molecular-only matrix and a matrix including both morphological and molecular characters (total evidence hypothesis). Our total evidence hypothesis recovered the L. montanus group as monophyletic and included ≥ 12 major clades, revealing an unexpectedly complex phylogeny.

Unravelling associations among chemosensory system components in Liolaemus lizards

“…Liolaemus pacha and Liolaemus quilmes were placed together, since they are sibling species (Juárez Heredia, Robles & Halloy, 2013). Liolaemus jamesi was placed together with Liolaemus rosenmmanii , because both belong to the same group (Abdala et al ., 2020), thus obtaining the resulting tree (Fig. 2).…”

A high mountain lizard from Peru: The world’s highest-altitude reptile

“…The South American genus Liolaemus constitutes one of the most diverse genera of reptiles known on Earth, with more than 270 species described to date (Abdala et al 2020;Huamaní-Valderrama et al 2020); it is distributed from the Central Andes in Peru to Patagonia in Argentina (Pincheira-Donoso et al 2008;Aguilar et al 2013;Abdala et al 2020). This includes the coastal regions of southern Peru and northern Chile (Valladares et al 2004;Villegas-Paredes et al 2020), as well as southern Brazil (Verrastro et al 2003) and demonstrates a broad adaptive radiation of the genus in the region (Abdala et al 2020).…”

“…The South American genus Liolaemus constitutes one of the most diverse genera of reptiles known on Earth, with more than 270 species described to date (Abdala et al 2020;Huamaní-Valderrama et al 2020); it is distributed from the Central Andes in Peru to Patagonia in Argentina (Pincheira-Donoso et al 2008;Aguilar et al 2013;Abdala et al 2020). This includes the coastal regions of southern Peru and northern Chile (Valladares et al 2004;Villegas-Paredes et al 2020), as well as southern Brazil (Verrastro et al 2003) and demonstrates a broad adaptive radiation of the genus in the region (Abdala et al 2020). In Peru, 28 species in the genus Liolaemus have been described to date (Chaparro et al 2020; Huamaní-Valderrama et al 2020; Arapa-Aquino et al 2021), although recent phylogenetic analyses have shown that this number is likely an underestimate, given the existence of several undescribed lineages or "candidate species" (Aguilar et al 2017(Aguilar et al , 2018Abdala et al 2020;Huamaní-Valderrama et al 2020).…”

“…This includes the coastal regions of southern Peru and northern Chile (Valladares et al 2004;Villegas-Paredes et al 2020), as well as southern Brazil (Verrastro et al 2003) and demonstrates a broad adaptive radiation of the genus in the region (Abdala et al 2020). In Peru, 28 species in the genus Liolaemus have been described to date (Chaparro et al 2020; Huamaní-Valderrama et al 2020; Arapa-Aquino et al 2021), although recent phylogenetic analyses have shown that this number is likely an underestimate, given the existence of several undescribed lineages or "candidate species" (Aguilar et al 2017(Aguilar et al , 2018Abdala et al 2020;Huamaní-Valderrama et al 2020).…”

Structure and comparative analysis of the mitochondrial genomes of Liolaemus lizards with different modes of reproduction and ploidy levels

“…The most representative Squamata in South America are members of the family Liolaemidae ( Frost et al, 2001 ; Townsend et al, 2011 ; Pyron, Burbrink & Wiens, 2013 ; Abdala & Quinteros, 2014 ; Abdala et al, 2020 ). This family is arranged into three lineages, taxonomically treated as the Ctenoblepharys , Liolaemus , and Phymaturus genera ( Abdala & Quinteros, 2014 ; Abdala et al, 2020 ; Villegas Paredes et al, 2020 ). Liolaemus is the most specious and diverse genus in South America with 283 species formally described ( Abdala, Laspiur & Langstroth, 2020 ) with an average of 6.5 species described each year from 2008 to date ( Abdala et al, 2020 ).…”