TY - JOUR
T1 - Are crocodiles really monophyletic? - Evidence for subdivisions from sequence and morphological data
AU - McAliley, L. Rex
AU - Willis, Ray E.
AU - Ray, David A.
AU - White, P. Scott
AU - Brochu, Christopher A.
AU - Densmore, Llewellyn D.
N1 - Funding Information:
There are many individuals that we acknowledge for their contribution to the development of this manuscript. First we thank J. McVay and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on early drafts of this manuscript. For use of equipment, thank R. Bradley and members of his laboratory as well as members of the Biotechnology core lab at Texas Tech University for all their help and contributions. Completion of this project was made possible through the generosity of the many museum curators, zoos, wildlife refuges, and private facilities that have allowed us to collect and examine specimens. We thank J. Zak and the Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, for partial financial support for this project. Finally, partial financial support was provided by grants from the National Science Foundation (BSR-8607420 to L.D.D. and BSR-0444133 to C.A.B. and L.D.D.) and the National Geographic Society (NGS-6529-99 and NGS-7007-1) to L.D.D.
PY - 2006/4/1
Y1 - 2006/4/1
N2 - Recently, the phylogenetic placement of the African slender snouted crocodile, Crocodylus cataphractus, has come under scrutiny and herein we address this issue using molecular and morphological techniques. Although it is often recognized as being a "basal" form, morphological studies have traditionally placed C. cataphractus within the genus Crocodylus, while molecular studies have suggested that C. cataphractus is very distinct from other Crocodylus. To address the relationship of this species to its congeners we have sequenced portions of two nuclear genes (C-mos 302 bp and ODC 294 bp), and two mitochondrial genes (ND6-tRNAglu-cytB 347 bp and control region 457 bp). Analyses of these molecular datasets, both as individual gene sequences and as concatenated sequences, support the hypothesis that C. cataphractus is not a member of Crocodylus or Osteolaemus. Examination of 165 morphological characters supports and strengthens our resurrection of an historic genus, Mecistops (Gray 1844) for cataphractus.
AB - Recently, the phylogenetic placement of the African slender snouted crocodile, Crocodylus cataphractus, has come under scrutiny and herein we address this issue using molecular and morphological techniques. Although it is often recognized as being a "basal" form, morphological studies have traditionally placed C. cataphractus within the genus Crocodylus, while molecular studies have suggested that C. cataphractus is very distinct from other Crocodylus. To address the relationship of this species to its congeners we have sequenced portions of two nuclear genes (C-mos 302 bp and ODC 294 bp), and two mitochondrial genes (ND6-tRNAglu-cytB 347 bp and control region 457 bp). Analyses of these molecular datasets, both as individual gene sequences and as concatenated sequences, support the hypothesis that C. cataphractus is not a member of Crocodylus or Osteolaemus. Examination of 165 morphological characters supports and strengthens our resurrection of an historic genus, Mecistops (Gray 1844) for cataphractus.
KW - C-mos
KW - Crocodylus
KW - Crocodylus cataphractus
KW - Mecistops
KW - Mitochondrial ND6
KW - Mitochondrial control region
KW - ODC
KW - Systematics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33644959292&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.01.012
DO - 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.01.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33644959292
SN - 1055-7903
VL - 39
SP - 16
EP - 32
JO - Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
JF - Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
IS - 1
ER -