擴(kuò)散和地理隔離在物種形成中起著重要作用,。高海撥環(huán)境下的兩棲動(dòng)物長(zhǎng)期棲息于較為寒冷的氣候條件下，自身活動(dòng)性較差,，而青藏高原東緣山區(qū)受高原隆起影響,，地質(zhì)結(jié)構(gòu)極端復(fù)雜，這使得居于青藏高原東緣的寶興樹(shù)蛙成為研究進(jìn)化和物種形成的良好材料,。
中科院成都生物研究所李家堂博士在昆明動(dòng)物所張亞平研究員的指導(dǎo)下,，完成了寶興樹(shù)蛙復(fù)合體(Rhacoph- orus dugritei complex)內(nèi)所有物種的系統(tǒng)和進(jìn)化研究。寶興樹(shù)蛙復(fù)合體內(nèi)各類(lèi)群個(gè)體均生活在海拔高于2000米的高山濕地環(huán)境內(nèi),，分布區(qū)橫跨三大地理學(xué)熱點(diǎn)研究區(qū)域：一是橫跨大渡河干熱河谷,；二是在四川的大小涼山至云南的高黎貢山中間存在間斷分布；三是橫跨整個(gè)云南西部至西南部及越南的北部高山地區(qū),，該區(qū)域地貌結(jié)構(gòu)特殊,，高山與河流錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜。
該研究以居群為單位,，采集該復(fù)合體內(nèi)重點(diǎn)代表區(qū)域的個(gè)體,，運(yùn)用系統(tǒng)發(fā)育地理學(xué)、形態(tài)學(xué)和分類(lèi)學(xué)的理論和方法,，探測(cè)了寶興樹(shù)蛙復(fù)合體內(nèi)物種的系統(tǒng)發(fā)育關(guān)系,，初步探討了系統(tǒng)發(fā)育地理格局的形成，并在此基礎(chǔ)上描述發(fā)表了兩個(gè)新種,。
該研究結(jié)果近期發(fā)表在動(dòng)物學(xué)雜志Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society上。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00790.x
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PMID:
Molecular phylogeny of treefrogs in the Rhacophorus dugritei species complex (Anura: Rhacophoridae), with descriptions of two new species
JIA-TANG LI1,2,5, JUN LIU1,5, YUE-YING CHEN1, JIA-WEI WU3, ROBERT W. MURPHY4, ER-MI ZHAO1, YUE-ZHAO WANG1,*, YA-PING ZHANG2,6,*
The taxonomy of the Asian treefrogs of the Rhacophorus dugritei complex, a group of widespread and morphologically similar species, is very controversial. To address many issues, we investigate the historical relationships among representative samples based on ∼3 kbp of nucleotide sequences from both the mitochondrial (12S rRNA, tRNAvaline, and 16S rRNA) and nuclear (tyrosinase and rhodopsin) genomes. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and partitioned Bayesian inference analyses resolve three well-supported lineages. Lineage A, including Rhacophorus dugritei and Rhacophorus hui, is sister to lineage B, which contains Rhacophorus hungfuensis, Rhacophorus minimus, R. hui from Hubei, and R. dugritei from Chongqing. Together, these lineages are the sister group of lineage C, which is composed of Rhacophorus puerensis from China and Vietnam, and R. dugritei from Vietnam. The phylogeny validates the previously contested species R. puerensis, which is distributed northwards from northern Vietnam to north-western Yunnan, China. Rhacophorus hui is also considered to be a valid species, the range of which is restricted to Zhaojue County, Sichuan, China. Specimens formerly identified as R. dugritei from Chongqing and R. hui from Lichuan, Hubei, are described as new species Rhacophorus hongchibaensis sp. nov. and Rhacophorus wui sp. nov., respectively. Diagnoses, detailed descriptions, illustrations, data on distribution and ecology are provided for the two new species.
