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To test three different scenarios to account for the geographic distribution of genetic variation in Dermatonotus muelleri, a fossorial frog endemic of the South American diagonal of open formations (DOF) formed by Chaco, Cerrado, and Caatinga biomes: (a) The pan‐DOF hypothesis, where these biomes behave as a single biogeographical unit and DOF species lack population structure; (b) the southwest‐northeast (SW‐NE) hypothesis, where structured populations along the DOF have either asymmetric or unidirectional gene flow in the northeast direction; (c) the vicariance hypothesis, where a pattern of population structure with no or reduced gene flow is observed.

Caatinga, Cerrado, and Chaco in South America.

We sampled 179 individuals across the species distribution and sequenced one mitochondrial and two nuclear markers. We evaluated population structure, the presence …