MtDNA phylogeography of the California newt, Taricha torosa (Caudata, Salamandridae).
Thirty-six individuals of the California newt, Taricha torosa, representing 22 populations from throughout the range of the two currently recognized subspecies, torosa and sierrae, were examined for sequence variation in a segment (375 bp) of the mitochondrial (mt) cytochrome b gene. The maximum sequence divergence within T. torosa is about 9%. Phylogenetic analyses used the sister taxa T. rivularis and T. granulosa as outgroups. Eighteen haploid sequence types found in T. torosa were grouped by parsimony, maximum likelihood, and neighbor-joining analyses into five mitochondrial clusters: two in torosa (the northern and southern clusters) and three in sierrae (the northern, central, and southern clusters). The southern sierrae cluster apparently shared a most recent common ancestor with the northern torosa cluster. The approximate time of sequence divergence within the current species was calibrated using the known fossil record (0.8% divergence per million years or 0.01 maximum likelihood distance per million years). Phylogenetic implications of mtDNA sequence variation for evolution and biogeography of the T. torosa species complex are discussed.
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Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley 94720, USA. anming@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002140:California; D003573:Cytochrome b Group / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012455:Salamandridae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity
D003573:Cytochrome b Group; D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial