Authors
Franky Bossuyt, Rafe M Brown, David M Hillis, David C Cannatella, Michel C Milinkovitch
Publication date
2006/8/1
Journal
Systematic Biology
Volume
55
Issue
4
Pages
579-594
Publisher
Society of Systematic Zoology
Description
Ranidae is a large anuran group with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution. We investigated the phylogenetic relationships and early biogeographic history of ranid frogs, using 104 representatives of all subfamilies and families, sampled from throughout their distribution. Analyses of ∼ 1570 bp of nuclear gene fragments (Rag-1, rhod, Tyr) and ∼ 2100 bp of the mitochondrial genome (12S rRNA, tRNAVAL, 16S rRNA) indicate that the monophyly of several taxa can be rejected with high confidence. Our tree is characterized by a clear historical association of each major clade with one Gondwanan plate. This prevalence of continent-scale endemism suggests that plate tectonics has played a major role in the distribution of ranid frogs. We performed dispersal-vicariance analyses, as well as analyses constrained by paleogeographic data, to estimate ancestral distributions during early ranid diversification …
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Scholar articles
F Bossuyt, RM Brown, DM Hillis, DC Cannatella… - Systematic Biology, 2006