Phylogenetics, biogeography, and life history evolution in the broadly distributed treefrog genus Dendropsophus (Anura: Hylidae: Hylinae)

Abstract

Dendropsophus is one of the most species-rich genera of hylid treefrogs. Recent studies integrating Sangergeneratedmitochondrial and nuclear loci with phenomic characters (SP) have advanced understanding of thisclade, but questions about its internal relationships and biogeographic history persist. To address these questions,we used anchored hybrid enrichment (AHE) to combine 432 nuclear loci for 78 taxa (72 % of species) withpublished data. Quantitatively, the impact of the AHE data was modest, with compositional differences in onlythree recognized clades and more than 80 % of the clades in the AHE + SP analyses also supported in the SP-onlyanalyses. Nevertheless, the impact of AHE was crucial for resolving and increasing support for multiple nodes.We transferred one species of the former D. ruschii group to the D. decipiens group and redefinedthe D. leucophyllatus group to avoid paraphyly. We estimated divergence times to reconstruct the clade’sbiogeographic history. We also examined evolution of oviposition sites and assessed its effect on lineage accumulation.Dendropsophus likely originated ~ 57 mya, predating the Andean uplift, with some taxa showingdispersal patterns less constrained by ecological changes than previously thought.