Abstract
Species are the cornerstone in many domains of biology research, which make the accurate species delimitation became critically important. In this study, the systematics and biogeography of the Hyla chinensis-group were analyzed based on phylogeny, species delimitation and ancestral area reconstruction methods. The phylogenetic results showed six specific clusters existed in the H. chinensis-group. BPP analysis indicated that six distinct species exist due to the high probability values (>0.95), which were also supported by the BF analysis. The divergence time of the H. chinensis-group was estimated to date back to 18.84 Mya in the early Miocene. Combining the results of ancestral area reconstruction, the H. chinensis-group might have originated from Guangxi-Hainan, then spread eastwardly and reached Nanling mountains, Wuyi mountains, Huangshan mountains and Taiwan. In rightabout colonization, it was gradually extended to the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Sichuan basin, Qinling mountains and Dabie mountains. Considering the geological movement from early Miocene to Pliocene, the colonization pattern of the H. chinensis-group maybe closely related to the progressive uplift of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and historical climate change. Our study provided evidence for species delimitation and speciation process within the H. chinensis-group. Our study supported the hypothesis that the evolutionary divergence in this species group was a consequence of the progressive uplift of QTP and environmental change.
Highlights
Abiotic factors and biological factors act as the major drivers temporally and geographically for biological evolution and diversification (Benton, 2009)
Clade A corresponds to H. tsinlingensis and H. annectans chuanxiensis, which are mainly located in the Qinling-Dabie mountains; Clade B included H. annectans, H. a. wulingensis, FIGURE 2 | Phylogenetic relationship of the Hyla chinensis group by Bayesian phylogenetic and maximum likelihood (ML) analysis based on concatenated sequences
Based on Bayes factor (BF) and Bayesian Phylogenetics and Phylogeography (BPP) methods, the species delimitation suggested that these six genetically distinct clades could be regarded as hidden separated species in the H. chinensis group, which got the support from genetic distance (Table 4)
Summary
Abiotic factors (e.g., climate changes and tectonic events) and biological factors (e.g., interspecific or intraspecific interactions, competition, and predation) act as the major drivers temporally and geographically for biological evolution and diversification (Benton, 2009). Evolutionary History of Hyla chinensis conditions for the various microhabitats Those species endemic to mountain habitats often exhibit special phylogeographic patterns, such as the relatively small populations with well-defined geographical boundaries (Shepard and Burbrink, 2011; Huang et al, 2017; Pan et al, 2019). As for the number of species identified in the H. chinensis group, it is controversial (Hua et al, 2009; Li et al, 2015) One supported that it included seven species (Hyla annectans, H. chinensis, Hyla hallowelli, Hyla sanchiangensis, Hyla simplex, Hyla tsinlingensis, and Hyla zhaopingensis) (Hua et al, 2009); the other study supported only six species (H. annectans, H. chinensis, H. simplex, H. sanchiangensis, H. tsinlingensis, and H. zhaopingensis) and five subspecies in H. annectans It is more urgent to solve the problem of determined number of species and subspecies within this species complex based on species delimitation methods
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