Estudiantes: Carolina Solis Zurita

Dra. Carolina Solis Zurita (2019)

Laboratorio de Morfometría,
Biodiversidad y Sistemática.
Posgrado, INECOL. (Abril 2014 )
Instituto de Ecología, AC. Xalapa, Ver. México

Tesis de Doctorado
"Filogenia molecular, evolución de la morfología y diversificación del nicho ecológico en especies del complejo Sceloporus variabilis"

Articulo:

Solis-Zurita, C., E. De Luna & D. González. [aceptado, Feb 2019]. Phylogenetic relationships in the Sceloporus variabilis (Squamata: Phrynosomatidae) complex based on three molecular markers, continuous characters, and geometric morphometric data. ZOOLOGICA SCRIPTA.

Abstract. The monophyly of the Sceloporus variabilis group is well established with five species and two species complexes, but phylogenetic relationships within species complexes are still uncertain. We studied 278 specimens in 20 terminals to sample all taxa in the “variabilis group”, including three subspecies in the “variabilis complex”, and two outgroups (S. grammicus and S. megalepidurus). We assembled an extensive morphological dataset with discrete and continuous characters (distances, scale counts), including geometric morphometric data (landmark coordinates of three shapes), and a three-marker molecular dataset as well (ND4,12S, RAG1). We conducted parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic inferences on these data, including on several partitioning and weighting schemes. We suggest elevating three subspecies to full species status. Therefore, we recommend recognition of nine species in the “variabilis group”. First, S. variabilisis sister to S. teapensis. In turn, S. cozumelaeis sister to S. olloporus. These four species are a monophyletic group, which is sister to S. smithi. Finally, S. marmoratusis sister of the clade of five species. The other species in the “variabilisgroup” (S. chrysostictus, S. couchi,S. parvus) are a paraphyletic grade at the base of the tree. Our analyses reject the existence of the “variabilis complex”. We additionally conducted a parsimony based ancestral reconstruction on body size (SVL), femoral pores, and dorsal scales and related morphological changes with geographical distribution of the species. Our phylogenetic hypothesis will allow best designs of comparative studies with species in the “variabilis group”, one of the earliest divergent lineages in the genus.