Open AccessPhylogeographic patterns in North African water frog Pelophylax saharicus (Anura: Ranidae)
Author(s) -
Nicolas Violaine,
Mataame Abderrahmane,
Crochet PierreAndré,
Geniez Philippe,
Ohler Annemarie
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of zoological systematics and evolutionary research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.769
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1439-0469
pISSN - 0947-5745
DOI - 10.1111/jzs.12094
Subject(s) - phylogeography , biology , allopatric speciation , genetic diversity , population , zoology , evolutionary biology , ecology , population genetics , phylogenetics , gene , genetics , demography , sociology
We studied the phylogeography of the Sahara frog in North Africa. We widely sampled frogs from Morocco to Tunisia (195 individuals) and sequenced two mitochondrial (16S and CO 1) and one nuclear (Rag1) genes. Our results confirm that Moroccan populations of P elophylax saharicus are genetically distinct from Algerian ones. Specimens from Alger and Djelfa (central Algeria) are genetically closer to Moroccan specimens than to east Algerian ones, and the split between these two lineages may have occurred approximately 2.6 Mya. A similar pattern of differentiation was observed in several other species and was hypothesized to be linked to the formation of the fossil island called the ‘Edough Peninsula’ in eastern Algeria around 4.2 Ma and then to have been reinforced by Pleistocene climatic changes. At the Moroccan scale, we found a low level of genetic diversity and no clear phylogeographic pattern within P. saharicus . However, our SAS hA analyses revealed a mixture of random and underdistributed haplotypes, which may indicate a complex population genetic or biogeographic history.