Historical biogeography of Phymaturus (Iguania: Liolaemidae) from Andean and patagonian South America

Abstract

Establishing the ancestral area of a group of organisms is one of the central objectives of historical biogeography. I applied three methods of ancestral area analysis, Fitch optimization, weighted ancestral area analysis and dispersal-vicariance analysis (DIVA) to establish the ancestral area of the iguanian lizard genus Phymaturus. I then extended the analysis to hypothesize the ancestral area for Liolaemidae (Ctenoblepharys, Liolaemus and Phymaturus). The ancestral area for Phymaturus is Patagonia Central or Patagonia Central-Cordillera Andina and Valle Central. For Liolaemidae, the ancestral area is Patagonia Central-Coastal Perú, or Patagonia Central-Patagonia Occidental-Cordillera Andina and Valle Central-Coastal Perú. The ancestral area of Phymaturus is congruent with previous studies, but the inclusion of Ctenoblepharys poses some questions regarding the distribution of the ancestor of the family. © 2008 The Author.