title: Molecular evidence for cryptic candidate species in Iberian Pelodytes (Anura, Pelodytidae).
abstract: Species delineation is a central topic in evolutionary biology, with current efforts focused on developing efficient analytical tools to extract the most information from molecular data and provide objective and repeatable results. In this paper we use a multilocus dataset (mtDNA and two nuclear markers) in a geographically comprehensive population sample across Iberia and Western Europe to delineate candidate species in a morphologically cryptic species group, Parsley frogs (genus Pelodytes). Pelodytes is the sole extant representative of an ancient, historically widely distributed anuran clade that currently includes three species: P. caucasicus in the Caucasus; P. punctatus in Western Europe, from Portugal to North-Western Italy; and P. ibericus in Southern Iberia. Phylogenetic analyses recovered four major well-supported haplotype clades in Western Europe, corresponding to well demarcated geographical subdivisions and exhibiting contrasting demographic histories. Splitting times date back to the Plio-Pleistocene and are very close in time. Species-tree analyses recovered one of these species lineages, corresponding to P. ibericus (lineage B), as the sister taxon to the other three major species lineages, distributed respectively in: western Iberian Peninsula, along the Atlantic coast and part of central Portugal (lineage A); Central and Eastern Spain (lineage C); and North-eastern Spain, France and North-western Italy (lineage D). The latter is in turn subdivided into two sub-clades, one in SE France and NW Italy and the other one from NE Spain to NW France, suggesting the existence of a Mediterranean-Atlantic corridor along the Garonne river. An information theory-based validation approach implemented in SpedeSTEM supports an arrangement of four candidate species, suggesting the need for a taxonomic revision of Western European Pelodytes.
authors.affiliation: CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal; Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Avenida Américo Vespucio, s/n, 41092 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Díaz-Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.affiliation: CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sequeira
authors.affiliation: CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Tiago
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sousa-Neves
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Avenida Américo Vespucio, s/n, 41092 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tejedo
authors.affiliation: CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal; Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências do Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal; Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: Nuno
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ferrand
authors.affiliation: CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal; Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo, s/n, 13005 Ciudad Real, Spain; Ecology, Evolution and Development Group, Department of Wetland Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Avenida Américo Vespucio, s/n, 41092 Sevilla, Spain. Electronic address: inigomsolano@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Iñigo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Martínez-Solano
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D005060:Europe; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial
keywords: Amphibians; Iberian Peninsula; Pelodytes; Species delineation; Species trees; Systematics