Molecular phylogenetic evidence for a mimetic radiation in Peruvian poison frogs supports a Müllerian mimicry hypothesis.

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Rainer Schulte (Creator)

Kyle Summers (Creator)

Rebecca Symula (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: Examples of Müllerian mimicry in which resemblance between unpalatable species confers mutual benefit are rare in vertebrates. Strong comparative evidence for mimicry is found when the colour and pattern of a single species closely resemble several different model species simultaneously in different geographical regions. Todemonstrate this it is necessary to provide compelling evidence that the putative mimics do in fact form a monophyletic group. We present molecular phylogenetic evidence that the poison frog Dendrobates imitator mimics three different poison frogs in different geographical regions in Peru. DNA sequences from four different mitochondrial gene regions in putative members of a single species are analysed using parsimony maximum-likelihood and neighbour-joining methods. The resulting hypotheses of phylogenetic relationships demonstrate that the different populations of D.imitator form a monophyletic group. To our knowledge these results provide the first evidence for a Müllerian mimetic radiation in amphibians in which a single species mimics different sympatric species in different geographical regions. Originally published Proc Biol Sci Vol. 268 No. 1484 Dec 2001

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Publication

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Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences. 268:1484(December 2001) p. 2415-2421.

Language: English

Date: 2011

Keywords

Müllerian mimic, poison frogs, Dendrobates imitator

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