Extensive Phylogeographic and Morphological Diversity in Diporiphora nobbi (Agamidae) Leads to a Taxonomic Review and a New Species Description

Abstract

Morphological and molecular information is invaluable in the description of cryptic diversity and the evolutionary processes driving diversification within closely related species that exhibit morphological homoplasy. We present a distribution-wide data set consisting of both molecular and morphological information, providing a taxonomic revision of the Diporiphora nobbi species group, and develop preliminary hypotheses regarding the evolutionary history of D. nobbi. We show deep molecular divergence between D. nobbi and a newly described sister lineage associated with divergence in meristic characters. Our molecular data also show large divergences among subclades within nominate D. nobbi associated with different habitats rather than specific biogeographc barriers. We further discuss potential diversification mechanisms within the D. nobbi species group.