The Gondwana Breakup and the History of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans Unveils Two New Clades for Early Neobatrachian Diversification

PLoS One. 2015 Nov 30;10(11):e0143926. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0143926. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

The largest anuran diversity belongs to the Neobatrachia, which harbor more than five thousand extant species. Here, we propose a new hypothesis for the historical aspects of the neobatrachian evolution with a formal biogeographical analysis. We selected 12 genes for 144 neobatrachian genera and four archaeobatrachian outgroups and performed a phylogenetic analysis using a maximum likelihood algorithm with the rapid bootstrap test. We also estimated divergence times for major lineages using a relaxed uncorrelated clock method. According to our time scale, the diversification of crown Neobatrachia began around the end of the Early Cretaceous. Our phylogenetic tree suggests that the first split of Neobatrachia is related to the geological events in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Hence, we propose names for these clades that indicate this connection, i.e., Atlanticanura and Indianura. The Atlanticanura is composed of three major neobatrachian lineages: Heleophrynidae, Australobatrachia and Nobleobatrachia. On the other hand, the Indianura consists of two major lineages: Sooglossoidea and Ranoides. The biogeographical analysis indicates that many neobatrachian splits occurred as a result of geological events such as the separation between South America and Africa, between India and the Seychelles, and between Australia and South America.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anura / classification*
  • Anura / genetics*
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Indian Ocean
  • Likelihood Functions
  • Phylogeny
  • Phylogeography
  • Species Specificity

Grants and funding

This study has been funded by a FAPERJ (Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro) Master degree fellowship E-26/102.879/2011 to AF; a FAPERJ “Prioridade Rio” grant (110.933/2010) to CAMR; and CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) fellowships to CAMR (304134/2012-0) and to HRS (309011/2012-4). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.