Cryptic diversity and Pliocene diversification of the frog Phyllomedusa vaillantii species complex: insights from mitochondrial and genome-wide nuclear data

Mota E.P.; Lima A.P.; Bittencourt P.S.; Nunes M.D.S.; Carvalho V.T.D.; Rojas R.R.; Almeida A.P.D.; Gordo M.; Macedo Polo É.; Hrbek T.; Farias I.P. · Systematics and Biodiversity (2026) · DOI: 10.1080/14772000.2026.2692965

Resumen

Phyllomedusa vaillantii has traditionally been considered as a single, widely distributed species in the Amazon. However, previous analyses of mitochondrial (mt) DNA suggested that this taxon is a species complex. In this study we expanded the previous sampling and combined analyses of mt (16S rDNA) and genome-wide nuclear (nu) DNA (single nucleotide polymorphisms: SNPs) to clarify the extant taxonomic diversity within this complex. A consensus 16S-based species delimitation identified 10 lineages forming three principal clades distributed on the Guiana and Brazilian shields and the western Amazon. Rigorous hypotheses using the nuDNA SNPs recovered nine strongly supported lineages that are congruent with the 16S lineages, and are geographically cohesive. We estimated the basal divergence within P. vaillantii to have occurred at approximately 4.48 million years ago (Mya) between the lineage of the Guiana Shield and all other lineages, followed shortly thereafter by the divergence of western Amazonian lineages from the Brazilian Shield lineages at approximately 3.65 Mya. This places the diversification of P. vaillantii lineages in the middle and late Pliocene, an epoch marked by major landscape and river course changes in the Amazon basin. Taxonomic identity of the P. vaillantii lineages and their formal description is, however, contingent on an integrative taxonomic revision and on addressing the taxonomic status of the synonyms of P. vaillantii. © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London 2026. All Rights Reserved.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de la Amazonía Peruana