The Experts below are selected from a list of 1638 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform

Peng Zhang - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • A large-scale phylogeny of Microhylidae inferred from a combined dataset of 121 genes and 427 taxa
    Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 2018
    Co-Authors: Menghua Yang, Dan Liang, Peng Zhang
    Abstract:

    Abstract The phylogenetic relationships of Microhylidae, the third largest family of extant frogs, have been difficult to resolve. In the past decade, large amounts of sequence data have been deposited for almost every microhylid genus, but no study has attempted to combine these data to reconstruct a comprehensive phylogeny for this family. In this study, we sequenced 20 near-complete or partial microhylid mitochondrial genomes and integrated them with all available sequences of Microhylidae from GenBank to construct a supermatrix containing 121 genes (14 mitochondrial and 107 nuclear protein-coding genes). The combined dataset is 112,328 characters long (average sequence data length per species = 7829 bp), includes 427 microhylid taxa, and covers all but three genera of the entire family. This dataset provides strong support for the traditional classification of 11 nominal subfamilies and improves the phylogenetic resolution of the relationships among subfamilies. The African subfamily Phrynomerinae is the sister group of all the other microhylids, and the African subfamily Hoplophryninae is the sister taxon to a clade comprising the remaining 9 subfamilies. At the genus level, our analyses confirm the monophyly of most but not all microhylid genera. In summary, we present a new large-scale phylogeny of microhylid frogs that should be valuable for addressing their classification and for comparative evolutionary studies.

  • phylogenomics reveals rapid simultaneous diversification of three major clades of gondwanan frogs at the cretaceous paleogene boundary
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017
    Co-Authors: Yanjie Feng, Dan Liang, David C. Blackburn, David M Hillis, David B Wake, David C Cannatella, Peng Zhang
    Abstract:

    Frogs (Anura) are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates and comprise nearly 90% of living amphibian species. Their worldwide distribution and diverse biology make them well-suited for assessing fundamental questions in evolution, ecology, and conservation. However, despite their scientific importance, the evolutionary history and tempo of frog diversification remain poorly understood. By using a molecular dataset of unprecedented size, including 88-kb characters from 95 nuclear genes of 156 frog species, in conjunction with 20 fossil-based calibrations, our analyses result in the most strongly supported phylogeny of all major frog lineages and provide a timescale of frog evolution that suggests much younger divergence times than suggested by earlier studies. Unexpectedly, our divergence-time analyses show that three species-rich clades (Hyloidea, Microhylidae, and Natatanura), which together comprise ∼88% of extant anuran species, simultaneously underwent rapid diversification at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary (KPB). Moreover, anuran families and subfamilies containing arboreal species originated near or after the KPB. These results suggest that the K-Pg mass extinction may have triggered explosive radiations of frogs by creating new ecological opportunities. This phylogeny also reveals relationships such as Microhylidae being sister to all other ranoid frogs and African continental lineages of Natatanura forming a clade that is sister to a clade of Eurasian, Indian, Melanesian, and Malagasy lineages. Biogeographical analyses suggest that the ancestral area of modern frogs was Africa, and their current distribution is largely associated with the breakup of Pangaea and subsequent Gondwanan fragmentation.

  • Phylogenomics reveals rapid, simultaneous diversification of three major clades of Gondwanan frogs at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017
    Co-Authors: Yanjie Feng, Dan Liang, David C. Blackburn, David M Hillis, David B Wake, David C Cannatella, Peng Zhang
    Abstract:

    Frogs (Anura) are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates and comprise nearly 90% of living amphibian species. Their worldwide distribution and diverse biology make them well-suited for assessing fundamental questions in evolution, ecology, and conservation. However, despite their scientific importance, the evolutionary history and tempo of frog diversification remain poorly understood. By using a molecular dataset of unprecedented size, including 88-kb characters from 95 nuclear genes of 156 frog species, in conjunction with 20 fossil-based calibrations, our analyses result in the most strongly supported phylogeny of all major frog lineages and provide a timescale of frog evolution that suggests much younger divergence times than suggested by earlier studies. Unexpectedly, our divergence-time analyses show that three species-rich clades (Hyloidea, Microhylidae, and Natatanura), which together comprise ∼88% of extant anuran species, simultaneously underwent rapid diversification at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary (KPB). Moreover, anuran families and subfamilies containing arboreal species originated near or after the KPB. These results suggest that the K-Pg mass extinction may have triggered explosive radiations of frogs by creating new ecological opportunities. This phylogeny also reveals relationships such as Microhylidae being sister to all other ranoid frogs and African continental lineages of Natatanura forming a clade that is sister to a clade of Eurasian, Indian, Melanesian, and Malagasy lineages. Biogeographical analyses suggest that the ancestral area of modern frogs was Africa, and their current distribution is largely associated with the breakup of Pangaea and subsequent Gondwanan fragmentation.

Dan Liang - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • A large-scale phylogeny of Microhylidae inferred from a combined dataset of 121 genes and 427 taxa
    Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 2018
    Co-Authors: Menghua Yang, Dan Liang, Peng Zhang
    Abstract:

    Abstract The phylogenetic relationships of Microhylidae, the third largest family of extant frogs, have been difficult to resolve. In the past decade, large amounts of sequence data have been deposited for almost every microhylid genus, but no study has attempted to combine these data to reconstruct a comprehensive phylogeny for this family. In this study, we sequenced 20 near-complete or partial microhylid mitochondrial genomes and integrated them with all available sequences of Microhylidae from GenBank to construct a supermatrix containing 121 genes (14 mitochondrial and 107 nuclear protein-coding genes). The combined dataset is 112,328 characters long (average sequence data length per species = 7829 bp), includes 427 microhylid taxa, and covers all but three genera of the entire family. This dataset provides strong support for the traditional classification of 11 nominal subfamilies and improves the phylogenetic resolution of the relationships among subfamilies. The African subfamily Phrynomerinae is the sister group of all the other microhylids, and the African subfamily Hoplophryninae is the sister taxon to a clade comprising the remaining 9 subfamilies. At the genus level, our analyses confirm the monophyly of most but not all microhylid genera. In summary, we present a new large-scale phylogeny of microhylid frogs that should be valuable for addressing their classification and for comparative evolutionary studies.

  • phylogenomics reveals rapid simultaneous diversification of three major clades of gondwanan frogs at the cretaceous paleogene boundary
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017
    Co-Authors: Yanjie Feng, Dan Liang, David C. Blackburn, David M Hillis, David B Wake, David C Cannatella, Peng Zhang
    Abstract:

    Frogs (Anura) are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates and comprise nearly 90% of living amphibian species. Their worldwide distribution and diverse biology make them well-suited for assessing fundamental questions in evolution, ecology, and conservation. However, despite their scientific importance, the evolutionary history and tempo of frog diversification remain poorly understood. By using a molecular dataset of unprecedented size, including 88-kb characters from 95 nuclear genes of 156 frog species, in conjunction with 20 fossil-based calibrations, our analyses result in the most strongly supported phylogeny of all major frog lineages and provide a timescale of frog evolution that suggests much younger divergence times than suggested by earlier studies. Unexpectedly, our divergence-time analyses show that three species-rich clades (Hyloidea, Microhylidae, and Natatanura), which together comprise ∼88% of extant anuran species, simultaneously underwent rapid diversification at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary (KPB). Moreover, anuran families and subfamilies containing arboreal species originated near or after the KPB. These results suggest that the K-Pg mass extinction may have triggered explosive radiations of frogs by creating new ecological opportunities. This phylogeny also reveals relationships such as Microhylidae being sister to all other ranoid frogs and African continental lineages of Natatanura forming a clade that is sister to a clade of Eurasian, Indian, Melanesian, and Malagasy lineages. Biogeographical analyses suggest that the ancestral area of modern frogs was Africa, and their current distribution is largely associated with the breakup of Pangaea and subsequent Gondwanan fragmentation.

  • Phylogenomics reveals rapid, simultaneous diversification of three major clades of Gondwanan frogs at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017
    Co-Authors: Yanjie Feng, Dan Liang, David C. Blackburn, David M Hillis, David B Wake, David C Cannatella, Peng Zhang
    Abstract:

    Frogs (Anura) are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates and comprise nearly 90% of living amphibian species. Their worldwide distribution and diverse biology make them well-suited for assessing fundamental questions in evolution, ecology, and conservation. However, despite their scientific importance, the evolutionary history and tempo of frog diversification remain poorly understood. By using a molecular dataset of unprecedented size, including 88-kb characters from 95 nuclear genes of 156 frog species, in conjunction with 20 fossil-based calibrations, our analyses result in the most strongly supported phylogeny of all major frog lineages and provide a timescale of frog evolution that suggests much younger divergence times than suggested by earlier studies. Unexpectedly, our divergence-time analyses show that three species-rich clades (Hyloidea, Microhylidae, and Natatanura), which together comprise ∼88% of extant anuran species, simultaneously underwent rapid diversification at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary (KPB). Moreover, anuran families and subfamilies containing arboreal species originated near or after the KPB. These results suggest that the K-Pg mass extinction may have triggered explosive radiations of frogs by creating new ecological opportunities. This phylogeny also reveals relationships such as Microhylidae being sister to all other ranoid frogs and African continental lineages of Natatanura forming a clade that is sister to a clade of Eurasian, Indian, Melanesian, and Malagasy lineages. Biogeographical analyses suggest that the ancestral area of modern frogs was Africa, and their current distribution is largely associated with the breakup of Pangaea and subsequent Gondwanan fragmentation.

Yanjie Feng - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • phylogenomics reveals rapid simultaneous diversification of three major clades of gondwanan frogs at the cretaceous paleogene boundary
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017
    Co-Authors: Yanjie Feng, Dan Liang, David C. Blackburn, David M Hillis, David B Wake, David C Cannatella, Peng Zhang
    Abstract:

    Frogs (Anura) are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates and comprise nearly 90% of living amphibian species. Their worldwide distribution and diverse biology make them well-suited for assessing fundamental questions in evolution, ecology, and conservation. However, despite their scientific importance, the evolutionary history and tempo of frog diversification remain poorly understood. By using a molecular dataset of unprecedented size, including 88-kb characters from 95 nuclear genes of 156 frog species, in conjunction with 20 fossil-based calibrations, our analyses result in the most strongly supported phylogeny of all major frog lineages and provide a timescale of frog evolution that suggests much younger divergence times than suggested by earlier studies. Unexpectedly, our divergence-time analyses show that three species-rich clades (Hyloidea, Microhylidae, and Natatanura), which together comprise ∼88% of extant anuran species, simultaneously underwent rapid diversification at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary (KPB). Moreover, anuran families and subfamilies containing arboreal species originated near or after the KPB. These results suggest that the K-Pg mass extinction may have triggered explosive radiations of frogs by creating new ecological opportunities. This phylogeny also reveals relationships such as Microhylidae being sister to all other ranoid frogs and African continental lineages of Natatanura forming a clade that is sister to a clade of Eurasian, Indian, Melanesian, and Malagasy lineages. Biogeographical analyses suggest that the ancestral area of modern frogs was Africa, and their current distribution is largely associated with the breakup of Pangaea and subsequent Gondwanan fragmentation.

  • Phylogenomics reveals rapid, simultaneous diversification of three major clades of Gondwanan frogs at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017
    Co-Authors: Yanjie Feng, Dan Liang, David C. Blackburn, David M Hillis, David B Wake, David C Cannatella, Peng Zhang
    Abstract:

    Frogs (Anura) are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates and comprise nearly 90% of living amphibian species. Their worldwide distribution and diverse biology make them well-suited for assessing fundamental questions in evolution, ecology, and conservation. However, despite their scientific importance, the evolutionary history and tempo of frog diversification remain poorly understood. By using a molecular dataset of unprecedented size, including 88-kb characters from 95 nuclear genes of 156 frog species, in conjunction with 20 fossil-based calibrations, our analyses result in the most strongly supported phylogeny of all major frog lineages and provide a timescale of frog evolution that suggests much younger divergence times than suggested by earlier studies. Unexpectedly, our divergence-time analyses show that three species-rich clades (Hyloidea, Microhylidae, and Natatanura), which together comprise ∼88% of extant anuran species, simultaneously underwent rapid diversification at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary (KPB). Moreover, anuran families and subfamilies containing arboreal species originated near or after the KPB. These results suggest that the K-Pg mass extinction may have triggered explosive radiations of frogs by creating new ecological opportunities. This phylogeny also reveals relationships such as Microhylidae being sister to all other ranoid frogs and African continental lineages of Natatanura forming a clade that is sister to a clade of Eurasian, Indian, Melanesian, and Malagasy lineages. Biogeographical analyses suggest that the ancestral area of modern frogs was Africa, and their current distribution is largely associated with the breakup of Pangaea and subsequent Gondwanan fragmentation.

Axel Meyer - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Nuclear gene phylogeny of narrow-mouthed toads (Family: Microhylidae) and a discussion of competing hypotheses concerning their biogeographical origins
    Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 2007
    Co-Authors: Arie Van Der Meijden, Miguel Vences, Simone Hoegg, Renaud Boistel, Alan Channing, Axel Meyer
    Abstract:

    The family Microhylidae has a large circumtropic distribution and contains about 400 species in a highly subdivided taxonomy. Relationships among its constituent taxa remained controversial due to homoplasy in morphological characters, resulting in conXicting phylogenetic hypotheses. A phylogeny based on four nuclear genes (rag-1, rag-2, tyrosinase, BDNF) and one mitochondrial gene (CO1) of representatives of all currently recognized subfamilies uncovers a basal polytomy between several subfamilial clades. A sister group relationship between the cophylines and scaphiophrynines is resolved with moderate support, which unites these endemic Malagasy taxa for the Wrst time. The American members of the subfamily Microhylinae are resolved to form a clade entirely separate from the Asian members of that subfamily. Otophryne is excluded from the subfamily Microhylinae, and resolved as a basal taxon. The placement of the Asian dyscophine Calluella nested within the Asian Microhyline clade rather than with the genus Dyscophus is corroborated by our data. Bayesian estimates of the divergence time of extant Microhylidae (47–90 Mya) and among the subclades within the family are discussed in frameworks of alternative possible biogeographic scenarios.

  • Novel phylogenetic relationships of the enigmatic brevicipitine and scaphiophrynine toads as revealed by sequences from the nuclear Rag-1 gene
    Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2004
    Co-Authors: A. Van Der Meijden, Miguel Vences, Axel Meyer
    Abstract:

    Owing to a general paucity of characters and an apparently high level of homoplasy, the systematics of frogs have remained disputed. A phylogeny based on the single-copy nuclear Rag-1 gene revealed unexpected placements of scaphiophrynine and brevicipitine toads. The former have usually been considered as sister group to all other extant microhylids or are even classified as a separate family. Their basal position among microhylids was weakly indicated in our analysis; but they clearly are part of a strongly supported clade composed of representatives from five other microhylid subfamilies. By contrast, the brevicipitines, a group that hitherto was unanimously considered to belong to the Microhylidae, were highly divergent and placed as a sister group to the arthroleptoid clade. These novel phylogenetic placements are best reflected by a classificatory status of the Scaphiophryninae as a subfamily of the Microhylidae, whereas the brevicipitines may merit recognition as a distinct family. Our findings seem to corroborate a high degree of morphological homoplasy in frogs and suggest that even highly derived morphological states, such as the hydrostatic tongue of microhylids, hemisotids and brevicipitines, may be subject to convergent evolution, parallelism or character reversal.

David C. Blackburn - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • phylogenomics reveals rapid simultaneous diversification of three major clades of gondwanan frogs at the cretaceous paleogene boundary
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017
    Co-Authors: Yanjie Feng, Dan Liang, David C. Blackburn, David M Hillis, David B Wake, David C Cannatella, Peng Zhang
    Abstract:

    Frogs (Anura) are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates and comprise nearly 90% of living amphibian species. Their worldwide distribution and diverse biology make them well-suited for assessing fundamental questions in evolution, ecology, and conservation. However, despite their scientific importance, the evolutionary history and tempo of frog diversification remain poorly understood. By using a molecular dataset of unprecedented size, including 88-kb characters from 95 nuclear genes of 156 frog species, in conjunction with 20 fossil-based calibrations, our analyses result in the most strongly supported phylogeny of all major frog lineages and provide a timescale of frog evolution that suggests much younger divergence times than suggested by earlier studies. Unexpectedly, our divergence-time analyses show that three species-rich clades (Hyloidea, Microhylidae, and Natatanura), which together comprise ∼88% of extant anuran species, simultaneously underwent rapid diversification at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary (KPB). Moreover, anuran families and subfamilies containing arboreal species originated near or after the KPB. These results suggest that the K-Pg mass extinction may have triggered explosive radiations of frogs by creating new ecological opportunities. This phylogeny also reveals relationships such as Microhylidae being sister to all other ranoid frogs and African continental lineages of Natatanura forming a clade that is sister to a clade of Eurasian, Indian, Melanesian, and Malagasy lineages. Biogeographical analyses suggest that the ancestral area of modern frogs was Africa, and their current distribution is largely associated with the breakup of Pangaea and subsequent Gondwanan fragmentation.

  • Phylogenomics reveals rapid, simultaneous diversification of three major clades of Gondwanan frogs at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary.
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017
    Co-Authors: Yanjie Feng, Dan Liang, David C. Blackburn, David M Hillis, David B Wake, David C Cannatella, Peng Zhang
    Abstract:

    Frogs (Anura) are one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates and comprise nearly 90% of living amphibian species. Their worldwide distribution and diverse biology make them well-suited for assessing fundamental questions in evolution, ecology, and conservation. However, despite their scientific importance, the evolutionary history and tempo of frog diversification remain poorly understood. By using a molecular dataset of unprecedented size, including 88-kb characters from 95 nuclear genes of 156 frog species, in conjunction with 20 fossil-based calibrations, our analyses result in the most strongly supported phylogeny of all major frog lineages and provide a timescale of frog evolution that suggests much younger divergence times than suggested by earlier studies. Unexpectedly, our divergence-time analyses show that three species-rich clades (Hyloidea, Microhylidae, and Natatanura), which together comprise ∼88% of extant anuran species, simultaneously underwent rapid diversification at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary (KPB). Moreover, anuran families and subfamilies containing arboreal species originated near or after the KPB. These results suggest that the K-Pg mass extinction may have triggered explosive radiations of frogs by creating new ecological opportunities. This phylogeny also reveals relationships such as Microhylidae being sister to all other ranoid frogs and African continental lineages of Natatanura forming a clade that is sister to a clade of Eurasian, Indian, Melanesian, and Malagasy lineages. Biogeographical analyses suggest that the ancestral area of modern frogs was Africa, and their current distribution is largely associated with the breakup of Pangaea and subsequent Gondwanan fragmentation.

  • A New Species of Narrow-Mouthed Frog of the Genus Kaloula from Eastern Indochina
    Herpetologica, 2013
    Co-Authors: Kin Onn Chan, David C. Blackburn, Robert W. Murphy, Bryan L. Stuart, David A. Emmett, Rafe M. Brown
    Abstract:

    Abstract We describe a new species of frog of the genus Kaloula (family Microhylidae) from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia based on morphological evidence. The new species has previously been mistaken with K. baleata, which it most closely resembles. Kaloula indochinensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: maximum snout–vent length 53.7 mm; finger tips expanded into wide discs; the majority of specimens with two subarticular tubercles on the fourth toe; inner and outer metatarsal tubercle slightly raised, inner metatarsal tubercle shorter than first toe; absence of dorsolateral stripe; and large, bright, orange-yellow axillary and inguinal spots.

  • Osteology and chondrocranial morphology of Gastrophryne carolinensis (Anura: Microhylidae), with a review of the osteological diversity of New World microhylids
    Phyllomedusa: Journal of Herpetology, 2011
    Co-Authors: Linda Trueb, Raul E. Diaz, David C. Blackburn
    Abstract:

    Osteology and chondrocranial morphology of Gastrophryne carolinensis (Anura: Microhylidae), with a review of the osteological diversity of New World microhylids. Microhylidae is a large, cosmopolitan anuran family. Recent molecular analyses have demonstrated the monophyly of the family—a conclusion that is supported by the larval morphology, coupled with the unique mode of tongue protrusion in adults, and a suite of osteological and myological characters seemingly associated with this innovation in feeding. Despite this functional constraint, osteological diversity probably exceeds that of any other anuran family, and this diversity is especially evident in the New World microhylids that comprise two clades, Gastrophryninae and Otophryninae. To facilitate comparisons among these clades, we describe the larval chondrocranium, skeletal development, and adult osteology of Gastrophryne carolinensis. We provide a phylogenetic context for these comparisons through a novel phylogenetic analysis of 45 microhylid genera based on data for one mitochondrial and three nuclear loci from previously published studies. Nearly all relationships within the monophyletic Gastrophryninae are resolved with robust support. Based on these results, we found that the larval chondrocrania of gastrophrynines share morphological features that distinguish them from Otophryne and other anurans. Among the adults, all gastrophrynines show evidence of an anterior shift of the jaws that is correlated with specializations in the otic region, and with the alignment of the planum antorbitale, the cartilage wall separating the nasal capsule from the orbits. The