Diversification and historical demography of Rhampholeon spectrum in West-Central Africa.

ABSTRACT: Pygmy Chameleons of the genus Rhampholeon represent a moderately diverse, geographically circumscribed radiation, with most species (18 out of 19 extant taxa) limited to East Africa. The one exception is Rhampholeon spectrum, a species restricted to West-Central African rainforests. We set out to characterize the geographic basis of genetic variation in this disjunctly distributed Rhampholeon species using a combination of multilocus Sanger data and genomic sequences to explore population structure and range-wide phylogeographic patterns. We also employed demographic analyses and niche modeling to distinguish between alternate explanations to contextualize the impact of past geological and climatic events on the present-day distribution of intraspecific genetic variation. Phylogenetic anal

SUBMITTER: Tapondjou Nkonmeneck WP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9757597 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature