Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 2554 No. 1: 30 Jul. 2010
Type: Articles
Published: 2010-07-30
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2554.1.5
Page range: 62–64
Abstract views: 35
PDF downloaded: 1

Molecular phylogeography of a widespread Malagasy leaf chameleon species, Brookesia superciliaris

Technical University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Spielmannstr. 8, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany Département de Biologie Animale, Université d'Antananarivo, BP 906. Antananarivo, 101 Madagascar Grewcock´s Center for Conservation Research, Omaha´s Henry Doorly Zoo, 3701 South 10th Street, Omaha, NE 68107-2200, United States
Technical University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Spielmannstr. 8, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Département de Biologie Animale, Université d'Antananarivo, BP 906. Antananarivo, 101 Madagascar Grewcock´s Center for Conservation Research, Omaha´s Henry Doorly Zoo, 3701 South 10th Street, Omaha, NE 68107-2200, United States
Département de Biologie Animale, Université d'Antananarivo, BP 906. Antananarivo, 101 Madagascar Grewcock´s Center for Conservation Research, Omaha´s Henry Doorly Zoo, 3701 South 10th Street, Omaha, NE 68107-2200, United States
Technical University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Spielmannstr. 8, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany Universitá degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Biologia, Sezione di Zoologia e Citologia, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy
Grewcock´s Center for Conservation Research, Omaha´s Henry Doorly Zoo, 3701 South 10th Street, Omaha, NE 68107-2200, United States
Technical University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Spielmannstr. 8, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Reptilia Brookesia superciliaris chameleon

Abstract

Chameleons of the Madagascan endemic genus Brookesia Gray are small to extremely small reptiles with a mostly terrestrial lifestyle, and due to their low mobility and their camouflage they are nearly invisible in the leaf litter of Madagascar's forests. The genus Brookesia is widely distributed (except in the arid south and south-west) but many Brookesia species are restricted to a relatively small area of the island (Glaw & Vences 2007). Speciation has been most prolific in the northern parts of Madagascar, an area that currently host about two-thirds of the 27 nominal Brookesia species (Raxworthy & Nussbaum 1995; Glaw & Vences 2007; Townsend et al. 2009).

References

  1. Andreone, F., Randrianirina, J.E., Jenkins, P.D. & Aprea, G. (2000) Species diversity of Amphibia, Reptilia and Lipotyphla (Mammalia) at Ambolokopatrika, a rainforest between Anjanaharibe-Sud and Marojejy massifs, NE Madagascar. Biodiversity and Conservation, 9, 1587–1622.

    Akaike, H.A. (1974) New look at the statistical model identification. IEEE Trans. Autom. Contr., 19, 716–723.

    Bauer, A.M., De Silva, A., Greenbaum, E. & Jackmann, T.R. (2007) A new species of day gecko from high elevation in Sri Lanka, with a preliminary phylogeny of Sri Lankan Cnemaspis (Reptilia, Squamata, Gekkonidae). Zoosystematics and Evolution, 83, 22–32.

    Boumans, L., Vieites, D.R., Glaw, F. & Vences, M. (2007) Geographical patterns of deep mitochondrial differentiation in widespread Malagasy reptiles. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 45, 822–839.

    Dolch, R. (2003) Andasibe (Périnet): Are current efforts sufficient to protect Madagascar’s Biodiversity Hot Spot? In Goodman, S. & Benstead, J.P. (eds) (2003): The Natural History of Madagascar. The University of Chicago Press, London, 1709 p.

    Glaw, F. & Vences, M. (2007) A Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar. Third edition. Vences and Glaw Verlag, Cologne, 495 p.

    Kocher, T.D., Thomas, W.K., Meyer, A., Edwards, S.V., Pääbo, S., Villablanca, F.X., Wilson, A.C. (1989) Dynamics of mitochondrial DNA evolution in animals: amplification and sequencing with conserved primers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A., 86, 6196–6200.

    Lutzmann, N. (2007) Untersuchungen zur Ökologie der Chamäleonfauna der Masoala-Halbinsel, Nord-Ost Madagaskar. Unpubl. PhD thesis, University Bonn.

    Nečas, P. & Schmidt, W. (2004) Stummelschwanzchamäleons – Miniaturdrachen des Regenwaldes. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt a. M., 255 p.

    Nylander, J.A.A. (2004) MRMODELTEST v2. Program distributed by the author. Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University.

    Posada, D. & Crandall, K.A. (1998) MODELTEST: testing the model of DNA substitution. Bioinformatics, 14, 817–818.

    Raxworthy, C.J. & Nussbaum, R.A. (1995) Systematics, speciation and biogeography of the dwarf chameleons (Brookesia; Reptilia, Squamata, Chamaeleontidae) of northern Madagascar. Journal of Zoology, 235, 525–558.

    Raxworthy, C.J. & Nussbaum, R.A. (1997) Biogeographic patterns of reptiles in Eastern Madagascar. In: Goodman, S.M., Patterson, B.D (Eds), Natural Change and Human Impact in Madagascar. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 124–141.

    Ray, N. & Adams, J.M. (2001) A GIS-based vegetation map of the world at the glacial maximum (25,000-15,000 BP). Internet Archaeology, 11.

    Ronquist, F. & Huelsenbeck, J.P. (2003) MRBAYES 3: Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models. Bioinformatics, 19, 1572–1574.

    Swofford, D.L. (2002) PAUP*. Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony (*and Other Methods). Version 4.0b10. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.

    Townsend, T.M., Vieites, D.R., Glaw, F. & Vences, M. (2009) Testing species-level diversification hypotheses in Madagascar: the case of microendemic Brookesia leaf chameleons. Systematic Biology, 58, 461–656.

    Vences, M., Vieites, D.R., Glaw, F., Brinkmann, H., Kosuch, J.,Veith, M. & Meyer, A. (2003) Multiple overseas dispersal in amphibians. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 270, 2435–2442.