Conquering the Sahara and Arabian deserts: Systematics and biogeography of Stenodactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)

[Background] The evolutionary history of the biota of North Africa and Arabia is inextricably tied to the complex geological and climatic evolution that gave rise to the prevalent deserts of these areas. Reptiles constitute an exemplary group in the study of the arid environments with numerous well-...

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Authors: Metallinou, Margarita, Arnold, Edwin Nicholas, Crochet, Pierre-André, Geniez, Philippe, Brito, José Carlos, Lymberakis, Petros, Baha El Din, Sherif, Sindaco, Roberto, Robinson, Michael, Carranza, Salvador
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2012
Country:España
Institution:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repository:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/67557
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/67557
Access Level:Open access
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network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Conquering the Sahara and Arabian deserts: Systematics and biogeography of Stenodactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)
title Conquering the Sahara and Arabian deserts: Systematics and biogeography of Stenodactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)
spellingShingle Conquering the Sahara and Arabian deserts: Systematics and biogeography of Stenodactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)
Metallinou, Margarita
title_short Conquering the Sahara and Arabian deserts: Systematics and biogeography of Stenodactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)
title_full Conquering the Sahara and Arabian deserts: Systematics and biogeography of Stenodactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)
title_fullStr Conquering the Sahara and Arabian deserts: Systematics and biogeography of Stenodactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)
title_full_unstemmed Conquering the Sahara and Arabian deserts: Systematics and biogeography of Stenodactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)
title_sort Conquering the Sahara and Arabian deserts: Systematics and biogeography of Stenodactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Metallinou, Margarita
Arnold, Edwin Nicholas
Crochet, Pierre-André
Geniez, Philippe
Brito, José Carlos
Lymberakis, Petros
Baha El Din, Sherif
Sindaco, Roberto
Robinson, Michael
Carranza, Salvador
author Metallinou, Margarita
author_facet Metallinou, Margarita
Arnold, Edwin Nicholas
Crochet, Pierre-André
Geniez, Philippe
Brito, José Carlos
Lymberakis, Petros
Baha El Din, Sherif
Sindaco, Roberto
Robinson, Michael
Carranza, Salvador
author_role author
author2 Arnold, Edwin Nicholas
Crochet, Pierre-André
Geniez, Philippe
Brito, José Carlos
Lymberakis, Petros
Baha El Din, Sherif
Sindaco, Roberto
Robinson, Michael
Carranza, Salvador
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
European Commission
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España)
Russian Foundation for Basic Research
Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (España)
Instituto Nacional de Bioinformática (España)
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
description [Background] The evolutionary history of the biota of North Africa and Arabia is inextricably tied to the complex geological and climatic evolution that gave rise to the prevalent deserts of these areas. Reptiles constitute an exemplary group in the study of the arid environments with numerous well-adapted members, while recent studies using reptiles as models have unveiled interesting biogeographical and diversification patterns. In this study, we include 207 specimens belonging to all 12 recognized species of the genus Stenodactylus. Molecular phylogenies inferred using two mitochondrial (12S rRNA and 16S rRNA) and two nuclear (c-mos and RAG-2) markers are employed to obtain a robust time-calibrated phylogeny, as the base to investigate the inter- and intraspecific relationships and to elucidate the biogeographical history of Stenodactylus, a genus with a large distribution range including the arid and hyper-arid areas of North Africa and Arabia.
publishDate 2012
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2012
2013
2013
2013
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Publisher's version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/67557
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/67557
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-12-258
Sí
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv BioMed Central
publisher.none.fl_str_mv BioMed Central
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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spelling Conquering the Sahara and Arabian deserts: Systematics and biogeography of Stenodactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae)Metallinou, MargaritaArnold, Edwin NicholasCrochet, Pierre-AndréGeniez, PhilippeBrito, José CarlosLymberakis, PetrosBaha El Din, SherifSindaco, RobertoRobinson, MichaelCarranza, Salvador[Background] The evolutionary history of the biota of North Africa and Arabia is inextricably tied to the complex geological and climatic evolution that gave rise to the prevalent deserts of these areas. Reptiles constitute an exemplary group in the study of the arid environments with numerous well-adapted members, while recent studies using reptiles as models have unveiled interesting biogeographical and diversification patterns. In this study, we include 207 specimens belonging to all 12 recognized species of the genus Stenodactylus. Molecular phylogenies inferred using two mitochondrial (12S rRNA and 16S rRNA) and two nuclear (c-mos and RAG-2) markers are employed to obtain a robust time-calibrated phylogeny, as the base to investigate the inter- and intraspecific relationships and to elucidate the biogeographical history of Stenodactylus, a genus with a large distribution range including the arid and hyper-arid areas of North Africa and Arabia.[Results] The phylogenetic analyses of molecular data reveal the existence of three major clades within the genus Stenodactylus, which is supported by previous studies based on morphology. Estimated divergence times between clades and sub-clades are shown to correlate with major geological events of the region, the most important of which is the opening of the Red Sea, while climatic instability in the Miocene is hypothesized to have triggered diversification. High genetic variability is observed in some species, suggesting the existence of some undescribed species. The S. petrii - S. stenurus species complex is in need of a thorough taxonomic revision. New data is presented on the distribution of the sister species S. sthenodactylus and S. mauritanicus. [Conclusions] The phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus Stenodactylus presented in this work permits the reconstruction of the biogeographical history of these common desert dwellers and confirms the importance of the opening of the Red Sea and the climatic oscillations of the Miocene as major factors in the diversification of the biota of North Africa and Arabia. Moreover, this study traces the evolution of this widely distributed and highly specialized group, investigates the patterns of its high intraspecific diversity and elucidates its systematics.[Results] The phylogenetic analyses of molecular data reveal the existence of three major clades within the genus Stenodactylus, which is supported by previous studies based on morphology. Estimated divergence times between clades and sub-clades are shown to correlate with major geological events of the region, the most important of which is the opening of the Red Sea, while climatic instability in the Miocene is hypothesized to have triggered diversification. High genetic variability is observed in some species, suggesting the existence of some undescribed species. The S. petrii - S. stenurus species complex is in need of a thorough taxonomic revision. New data is presented on the distribution of the sister species S. sthenodactylus and S. mauritanicus. [Conclusions] The phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus Stenodactylus presented in this work permits the reconstruction of the biogeographical history of these common desert dwellers and confirms the importance of the opening of the Red Sea and the climatic oscillations of the Miocene as major factors in the diversification of the biota of North Africa and Arabia. Moreover, this study traces the evolution of this widely distributed and highly specialized group, investigates the patterns of its high intraspecific diversity and elucidates its systematics.This work was supported by grants CGL2009-11663⁄BOS from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain, Fondos FEDER - EU, and 2012RU0055 from the Consejo de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR). SC and MM are members of the Grup de Recerca Emergent of the Generalitat de Catalunya: 2009SGR1462; MM is supported by a FPU predoctoral grant from the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Spain (AP2008-01844). Some phylogenetic analyses were run in the cluster facility of the IBE funded by the Spanish National Bioinformatics Institute (http://www.inab.org) and in the CIPRES Science Gateway web portal. Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España) European Commission Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España) Russian Foundation for Basic Research Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (España) Instituto Nacional de Bioinformática (España)Peer ReviewedBioMed CentralMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad (España)European CommissionConsejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España)Russian Foundation for Basic ResearchMinisterio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (España)Instituto Nacional de Bioinformática (España)Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]2013201320122013info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Publisher's versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/67557reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Ingléshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-12-258Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/675572026-05-22T06:33:51Z
score 15.811543

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