Phylogeography of the Caribbean Rock Iguana (Cyclura): Implications for Conservation and Insights on the Biogeographic History of the West Indies

doi:10.1006/mpev.2000.0836

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

Volume 17, Issue 2, November 2000, Pages 269-279

https://doi.org/10.1006/mpev.2000.0836 Get rights and content

Abstract

The Caribbean rock iguana, Cyclura, has had an unstable intrageneric taxonomy and an unclear phylogenetic position within the family Iguanidae. We use mtDNA sequence data to address these issues and explore the phylogeographic history of the genus. ND4 to leucine tRNA sequence data were collected from multiple individuals of each of the eight species of Cyclura (including 15 of 16 subspecies) and from four localities of Iguana iguana (representative of this species' broad geographic range). This data set was combined with sequence data from Sites et al. (1996, Mol. Biol. Evol. 13, 1087–1105) and analyzed under maximum-parsimony and maximum-likelihood optimization criteria. The ND4 region provided good resolution for the majority of nodes, as indicated by high bootstrap support. In agreement with several recent molecular studies, Cyclura is recovered as monophyletic and is not closely related to any other genus, whereas Iguana is strongly supported as the sister taxon to Sauromalus. This result is statistically more likely than other published hypotheses of Iguanid relationships. Cyclura shows a southeast to northwest speciation sequence in the Caribbean, with the most ancient lineage on the Puerto Rican Bank. The amount of interspecific sequence divergence within Cyclura (maximum 11.4%) is very high in comparison to data from other iguanid taxa at this locus, suggesting that this group either has been in the Caribbean for a very long time or has gone through a very rapid rate of evolution at this locus. Using dates from other published studies, we calculate a molecular clock that suggests that Cyclura colonized the Caribbean between 15 and 35 mya. Several questions regarding subspecific taxonomy are raised in the analysis and await further investigation using a more rapidly evolving marker such as nuclear microsatellites.

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Citation Excerpt :
Carter and Hayes (2004) identified apparent differences among the subspecies in body sizes, femoral pore counts, and some head scalation characters (the latter with small sample sizes), characters that might be reasonably expected to be plastic or environmentally-induced rather than a reflection of divergent evolution and the process of speciation (Fox et al. 1961; Wegener et al. 2014; Baeckens et al. 2015; Ortega et al. 2019). Malone et al. (2000) found no variable positions (=segregating sites) among these subspecies using a single mtDNA gene, and the subspecies were described as “poorly-defined” by Lemm and Alberts (2011). Carter and Hayes (2004) stated that “final resolution of taxonomic status of C. rileyi should be determined by analysis of more rapidly diverging nuclear markers.”
The genus Cyclura includes nine extant species and six subspecies of West Indian Rock Iguanas and is one of the most imperiled genera of squamate reptiles globally. An understanding of species diversity, evolutionary relationships, diversification, and historical biogeography in this group is crucial for implementing sound long-term conservation strategies. We collected DNA samples from 1 to 10 individuals per taxon from all Cyclura taxa (n = 70 ingroup individuals), focusing where possible on incorporating individuals from different populations of each species. We also collected 1–2 individuals from each of seven outgroup species of iguanas (Iguana delicatissima; five Ctenosaura species) and Anolis sagrei (n = 12 total outgroup individuals). We used targeted genomic sequence capture to isolate and to sequence 1,872 loci comprising of 687,308 base pairs (bp) from each of the 82 individuals from across the nuclear genome. We extracted mitochondrial reads and assembled and annotated mitogenomes for all Cyclura taxa plus outgroup species. We present well-supported phylogenomic gene tree/species tree analyses for all extant species of Cyclura using ASTRAL-III, SVDQuartets, and StarBEAST2 methods, and discuss the taxonomic, biogeographic, and conservation implications of these data. We find a most recent common ancestor of the genus 9.91 million years ago. The earliest divergence within Cyclura separates C. pinguis from a clade comprising all other Cyclura. Within the latter group, a clade comprising C. carinata from the southern Lucayan Islands and C. ricordii from Hispaniola is the sister taxon to a clade comprising the other Cyclura. Among the other Cyclura, the species C. cornuta and C. stejnegeri (from Hispaniola and Isla Mona) form the sister taxon to a clade of species from Jamaica (C. collei), Cuba and Cayman Islands (C. nubila and C. lewisi), and the eastern (C. rileyi) and western (C. cychlura) Lucayan Islands. Cyclura cychlura and C. rileyi form a clade whose sister taxa are C. nubila and C. lewisi. Cyclura collei is the sister taxon to these four species combined.
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^☆: Sequences have been deposited in GenBank under Accession Nos. AF217761–AF217786.

²: To whom correspondence should be addressed. Fax: (409) 862-2662. E-mail: [email protected].

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Regular ArticlePhylogeography of the Caribbean Rock Iguana (Cyclura): Implications for Conservation and Insights on the Biogeographic History of the West Indies☆

Abstract

Trends Ecol. Evol.

Biol. Conserv.

Biochem. Syst. Ecol.

Cladistics

Biol. Conserv.

Biol. Conserv.

Cladistics

Biol. Conserv.

West Indian Iguanas: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan

Phylogeny and historical biogeography of the loliginid squids (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data

Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.

Mitochondrial DNA sequence divergence and phylogenetic relationships among eight chromosome races of the Sceloporus grammicus complex (Phrynosomatidae) in central Mexico

Syst. Biol.

MtDNA sequence-based phylogeny and the evolution of viviparity in the Sceloporous scaloris group

Evolution

Phylogeny, Ecology, and Behavior: A Research Program in Comparative Biology

Iguanas of the World

Tectonic evolution of the Caribbean

Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci.

Zoogeographic patterns and tectonic history of Jamaica and the northern Carib

J. Biogeog.

The Rock Iguana, Cyclura pinguis on Anegada, British Virgin Islands, with notes on Cyclura ricordi and Cyclura cornuta Hispaniola

Bull. Fla. St. Mus. Biol. Sci.

Over-water dispersal of lizards due to hurricanes

Nature

Caribbean historical biogeography: Was the dispersal vicariance debate eliminated by an extraterrestrial bolide?

Herpetologica

Preserving the information content of species: Genetic diversity, phylogeny, and conservation worth

Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst.

Towards complete biodiversity assessment: An evaluation of the subterranean bacterial communities in the Oklo region of the sole surviving natural nuclear reactor

FEMS Microbiol. Ecol.

Phylogenetic systematics of iguanine lizards: A comparative osteological study

Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool.

Caribbean biogeography: Geological considerations bearing on the problem of vicariance vs. dispersal

Biological Aspects of Insularity

Cases in which parsimony and compatibility methods will be positively misleading

Syst. Zool.

Confidence limits on phylogenies: An approach using the bootstrap

Evolution

Evolution of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase II gene in Collembola

J. Mol. Evol.

A phylogenetic analysis and taxonomy of iguanian lizards (Reptilia: Squamata)

Misc. Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas

Cladistic relationships among anoles (Sauria: Iguanidae)

Syst. Zool.

Chronology of fluctuating sea level since the Triassic

Science

Historical biogeography of West Indian vertebrates

Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst.

Vicariance and dispersal in Caribbean biogeography

Herpetologica

Regular Article
Phylogeography of the Caribbean Rock Iguana (Cyclura): Implications for Conservation and Insights on the Biogeographic History of the West Indies☆