Delimitation of Endangered Species (Anura: Telmatobiidae) of the Chilean Salt Puna.
Pablo Fibla, Paola A Sáez, Gabriel Lobos, Nicolás Rebolledo, David Véliz, Luis Pastenes, Talía Del Pozo, Marco A Méndez
Author Information
Pablo Fibla: Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile. ORCID
Paola A Sáez: Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile. ORCID
Gabriel Lobos: Centro de Gestión Ambiental y Biodiversidad, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Avenida Santa Rosa 11735, La Pintana, Santiago 8820000, Chile. ORCID
David Véliz: Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile. ORCID
Luis Pastenes: Departamento de Biología y Química, Facultad de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Católica del Maule, Avenida San Miguel 3605, Talca 3480112, Chile. ORCID
Talía Del Pozo: Núcleo de Investigación en One Health (NIOH), Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Agronomía, Universidad de Las Américas, Santiago 7500975, Chile. ORCID
Marco A Méndez: Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago 7800003, Chile. ORCID
Clarifying the taxonomic status and distribution of endangered species is crucial to their conservation. In this study, we contrasted different lines of evidence (morphology, mtDNA, and nucDNA: microsatellites and SNP) to clarify the taxonomic status of endangered water frog species and unidentified populations that inhabit the Salt Puna in Chile. We studied population differentiation and species divergence by performing morphometric, population genetic and species delimitation analyses. The results confirmed the species status of and , as they exhibited morphometric, mitochondrial and genomic SNP divergence. Although Bayes factor delimitation analysis indicated that the populations of Ascotán and Carcote could represent a new species, their few mitochondrial differences and similar morphology with respect to suggested otherwise. Instead, they can be considered an evolutionarily significant unit of that has differentiated from the type locality. These results extend the geographic distribution of , which is categorized as critically endangered by the IUCN.
