Populating a Continent: Phylogenomics Reveal the Timing of Australian Frog Diversification
Date
2024
Authors
Brennan, I.G.
Lemmon, A.R.
Moriarty Lemmon, E.
Hoskin, C.J.
Donnellan, S.C.
Keogh, J.S.
Editors
Bell, R.
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Journal article
Citation
Systematic Biology, 2024; 73(1):1-11
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Ian G. Brennan, Alan R. Lemmon, Emily Moriarty Lemmon, Conrad J. Hoskin, Stephen C. Donnellan, and J. Scott Keogh
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Abstract
The Australian continent’s size and isolation make it an ideal place for studying the accumulation and evolution of biodiversity. Long separated from the ancient supercontinent Gondwana, most of Australia’s plants and animals are unique and endemic, including the continent’s frogs. Australian frogs comprise a remarkable ecological and morphological diversity categorized into a small number of distantly related radiations. We present a phylogenomic hypothesis based on an exon-capture dataset that spans the main clades of Australian myobatrachoid, pelodryadid hyloid, and microhylid frogs. Our time-calibrated phylogenomic-scale phylogeny identifies great disparity in the relative ages of these groups that vary from Gondwanan relics to recent immigrants from Asia and include arguably the continent’s oldest living vertebrate radiation. This age stratification provides insight into the colonization of, and diversification on, the Australian continent through deep time, during periods of dramatic climatic and community changes. Contemporary Australian frog diversity highlights the adaptive capacity of anurans, particularly in response to heat and aridity, and explains why they are one of the continent’s most visible faunas.
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© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the Society of Systematic Biologists. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.