First steps in a project integrating phylogeny, climate,geological history and dispersion dynamics, to explain the phylogeography of the genus Batrachoseps
Abstract
The slender salamanders genus, Batrachoseps (Plethodontidae), is the most speciose groupof caudate amphibians in the western nearctic zone. All clades and even species within these groupsshow a marked phylogeographic structure, although there is often a discrepancy between mtDNAand nDNA (allozymes) datasets. Batrachoseps species are morphologically cryptic and ecologicallyvery similar. Slender salamander species do not merge when a parapatry occurs and sympatry islimited especially within clade...