Frogs at the summits: phylogeny of the Andean frogs of the genus Telmatobius (Anura, Telmatobiidae) based on phenotypic characters

Abstract

A phylogenetic hypothesis for the frogs of the genus Telmatobius that includes a comprehensive sample of the morphological and geographical variation is lacking. Obtaining such a hypothesis constitutes the main focus of this contribution. A phylogenetic matrix was generated based on 97 phenotypic characters and 56 terminals. A parsimony analysis of this matrix was performed with TNT. Telmatobius is found to be monophyletic and well supported by 11 synapomorphies. Although the consensus tree shows several polytomies, four main groups have been recovered. The well-supported T. verrucosus Group includes forest and sub-paramo species from Bolivia and Peru, and is the sister group of the remaining species. The T. bolivianus Group includes forest and inter-Andean valley species from Argentina and Bolivia but it is poorly supported. Two supported high-altitude groups have been recovered, the T. macrostomus Group from the Central Andes of Peru, and the T. marmoratus Group from the Altiplano-Puna Plateau of Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Chile and its adjacent Pacific and Northern slopes. The synapomorphies proposed for Telmatobius are discussed as well as the evolution of some of these synapomorphies and other characters within the genus.