Abstract
In this paper we support the division of the previously monotypic genus Ascaphus into two species based on an analysis of 23 allozyme loci from 34 populations. We use maximum likelihood to estimate the Ascaphus phylogeny from the allozyme data and find strongly supported monophyletic Rocky Mountain and Pacific clades. In a nonhierarchal, model-based cluster analysis of the data, each of the 1085 individual genotypes is correctly assigned to either Ascaphus montanus or A. truei with a high probability. We also find a virtually fixed difference between the species at the Pgm-2 locus. Within A. truei, we find a lack of significant pairwise FST values among populations from the Coast and central Cascades Mountains, suggesting relatively recent range expansion or contemporary gene flow among these populations. Olympic Mountains populations form a discrete clade in the allozyme topology and are fixed for a unique allele at the Lap locus. These populations remain isolated from the remainder of the species' range...
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