Phylogenetic relationships of the Chinese torrent frogs (Ranidae: Amolops) revealed by phylogenomic analyses of AFLP-Capture data

Publication date: Available online 3 February 2020Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and EvolutionAuthor(s): Zhaochi Zeng, Dan Liang, Jiaxuan Li, Zhitong Lyu, Yingyong Wang, Peng ZhangAbstractThe torrent frog genus Amolops contains nearly sixty species distributed in swift mountain streams throughout southeast Asia. The taxonomy of this genus has proven complicated due to unstable morphological diagnostic characters. The relationships of Amolops species and species groups were not readily resolved with a small number of molecular markers. Here, we applied the novel AFLP-Capture approach and acquired two large datasets (242 anonymous nuclear sequences and the mitochondrial genome) from 70 Chinese Amolops samples to study their relationships. The phylogenies inferred from the nuclear data and the mitochondrial data were both robust and revealed a primary phylogenetic split between eastern and western Chinese Amolops species. The relationships of the six species groups were clarified. While the three species groups in east China (the A. ricketti, A. daiyunensis and A. hainanensis groups) were monophyletic, the three species groups in the west (the A. mantzorum, A. monticola and A. marmoratus groups) were not monophyletic, suggesting a need for further investigation and revision. The robust phylogenies also provided new insights into species relationships, especially for the A. mantzorum group, which has been difficult to resolve due to multiple speciation events occurring approxima...
Source: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution - Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research