Meeting Abstract

94.2  Thursday, Jan. 7  Behavioral and molecular differentiation within a possible cryptic species complex, the canyon treefrog, Hyla arenicolor KLYMUS, Katy *; HUMFELD, Sarah ; MARSHALL, Vince ; CANNATELLA, David ; GERHARDT, H. Carl; University of Missouri, Columbia kektgb@mail.mizzou.edu

Cryptic species, morphologically indistinguishable taxa, are commonly identified based on molecular data and/or non-visual mating signals. We tested the hypothesis that the canyon treefrog may comprise a cryptic species complex, as previous work found three highly divergent, mitochondrial clades in the U.S. portion of the range. Expecting to see differences in male advertisement calls among populations, we compared properties of calls from populations sampled throughout the U.S. and Mexican range. We also re-assessed phylogenetic relationships among populations of Hyla arenicolor and its sister species H. wrightorum using mitochondrial and nuclear sequences. Our acoustic analyses found no biologically significant variation in advertisement calls among the three U.S. clades, whereas Mexican populations show large differences. Our phylogenetic data help explain our behavioral results. Incongruence between the two molecular data sets indicates mitochondrial capture between one U.S. population and H. wrightorum. Thus, U.S. populations are not as divergent from one another as once assumed, but Mexican populations are highly divergent. We conclude that canyon treefrog populations in the U.S. may not consist of three highly divergent genetic clades, but further analysis of southern Mexican populations may in fact reveal distinct lineages.