Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 12, 928-937, Copyright © 1995 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
JM Hay, I Ruvinsky, SB Hedges and LR Maxson
Nucleotide sequence comparisons were used to investigate ordinal and
familial relationships within the class Amphibia. Approximately 850 base
pairs of the mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene from
representatives of 28 of the 40 families of extant amphibians were
sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses of these data together with published data
of the 12S rRNA gene for the same families and both genes for three more
taxa (approximately 1,300 base pairs total for 35 taxa) support the
monophyly of each of the three amphibian orders: Anura (confidence value
with the interior-branch test: P(c) = 99%), Caudata (P(c) = 100%), and
Gymnophiona (P(c) = 99%). An analysis using the four- cluster method cannot
discriminate significantly between all three possible unrooted trees
involving the three orders of amphibians and an outgroup. Within the Anura,
there is support for the monophyly of the two suborders: Neobatrachia (P(c)
= 100%) and Archaeobatrachia (P(c) = 97%); the latter was believed to be
paraphyletic on the basis of morphology. Within the Archaeobatrachia, the
following pairs of taxa cluster: Pelobatidae + Pelodytidae (P(c) = 99%),
Pipidae + Rhinophrynidae (P(c) = 99%), Ascaphus + Leiopelmatidae (P(c) =
89%), and Bombina + Discoglossidae (P(c) = 99%). The latter six taxa
cluster (P(c) = 94%) such that Pelobatidae + Pelodytidae forms a basal
lineage within the Archaeobatrachia. Three major lineages are distinguished
within the Neobatrachia: the superfamily Bufonoidea sensu Duellman (P(c) =
86%), the superfamily Ranoidea sensu Lynch (P(c) = 99%), and the
Sooglossidae. Basal within the Bufonoidea, Myobatrachidae + Heleophrynidae
cluster at P(c) = 96%. The enigmatic Dendrobatidae clusters with the
bufonoid families (P(c) = 92%) and is excluded from the ranoid families
(P(c) = 99%). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Phylogenetic relationships of amphibian families inferred from DNA sequences of mitochondrial 12S and 16S ribosomal RNA genes
Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802, USA.
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