Species richness under a vertebral stripe: integrative taxonomy uncovers three additional species of Pholidobolus lizards (Sauria, Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae) from the north-western Colombian Andes.

ABSTRACT: The systematic study of biodiversity underlies appropriate inference in most other fields of biological research, yet it remains hampered by disagreements on both theoretical and empirical issues such as the species concept and the operational diagnosis of a species. Both become particularly challenging in those lineages where morphological traits are evolutionarily constrained by their adaptive value. For instance, cryptic organisms often conserve or converge in their external appearance, which hinders the recognition of species boundaries. An integrative approach has been adopted to study microgeographic variation in the leaf-litter lizard Pholidobolusvertebralis and test three predictions derived from the evolutionary species concept. Molecular data provided unambiguous evidence

SUBMITTER: Amezquita A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10208605 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature