A Phylogeographic Assessment of the Malagasy Giant Chameleons (Furcifer verrucosus and Furcifer oustaleti).

ABSTRACT: The Malagasy giant chameleons (Furcifer oustaleti and Furcifer verrucosus) are sister species that are both broadly distributed in Madagascar, and also endemic to the island. These species are also morphologically similar and, because of this, have been frequently misidentified in the field. Previous studies have suggested that cryptic species are nested within this chameleon group, and two subspecies have been described in F. verrucosus. In this study, we utilized a phylogeographic approach to assess genetic diversification within these chameleons. This was accomplished by (1) identifying clades within each species supported by both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, (2) assessing divergence times between clades, and (3) testing for niche divergence or conservatism. We found that both F. oust

SUBMITTER: Florio AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4892496 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature