Population genetics of the Sao Tome caecilian (Gymnophiona: Dermophiidae: Schistometopum thomense) reveals strong geographic structuring.

ABSTRACT: Islands provide exciting opportunities for exploring ecological and evolutionary mechanisms. The oceanic island of São Tomé in the Gulf of Guinea exhibits high diversity of fauna including the endemic caecilian amphibian, Schistometopum thomense. Variation in pigmentation, morphology and size of this taxon over its c. 45 km island range is extreme, motivating a number of taxonomic, ecological, and evolutionary hypotheses to explain the observed diversity. We conducted a population genetic study of S. thomense using partial sequences of two mitochondrial DNA genes (ND4 and 16S), together with morphological examination, to address competing hypotheses of taxonomic or clinal variation. Using Bayesian phylogenetic analysis and Spatial Analysis of Molecular Variance, we found evidence of four g

SUBMITTER: Stoelting RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4149351 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature