Meeting Abstract

42.2  Sunday, Jan. 5 10:30  Molecules, mountaintops, and webbed feet: systematics of the bolitoglossine subgenus Mayamandra BOUZID, N/M*; ROVITO, S/M; VáSQUEZ ALMAZáN, C/R; WAKE, D/B; MVZ, UC Berkeley; MVZ, UC Berkeley; Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, Guatemala City, Guatemala; MVZ, UC Berkeley simab0418@gmail.com

The Neotropics are a hotspot of plethodontid salamander diversity, with new species being described each year. The largest genus of neotropical salamanders, Bolitoglossa, has been partitioned into seven subgenera by previous studies on the basis of mitochondrial sequence data and morphology. Many recent taxonomic revisions also rely primarily on mitochondrial sequence data to delineate species. In this study we have obtained sequence data from two mitochondrial and four nuclear loci for species in the subgenus Mayamandra, the subgenus with the most restricted geographic range, which ranges from Chiapas, Mexico, to northwestern Guatemala. We elucidate geographic species boundaries and test both the recently proposed taxonomic hypotheses and the monophyly of Mayamandra in relation to its sister subgenus, Nanotriton. We use morphological data to compare both described species and genetically distinct populations. Phylogeographic results show a complex spatial distribution of named species with large mtDNA divergences between different lineages over short geographic distances. The most striking example is a single population restricted to Cerro Tzontehuitz, the highest peak in central Chiapas, that displays a level of divergence comparable to that of other described species within the subgenus. Our results suggest that unrecognized species diversity may remain a factor in Central America and that comprehensive, multi-locus studies of other taxa that include morphological data would provide a more accurate estimate of salamander biodiversity in the tropics. We acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation, award number 1026393.