2023-09-01 17:29:08
Vietnamese moss covered frog – WIKIMEDIA
MADRID, 1 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The longest frog evolutionary tree to date has determined that these animals began to diversify 180 million years ago30 million years later than established.
This comprehensive phylogeny, based on hundreds of genetic markers and a staggering 5,242 frog speciestransforms our understanding of these creatures.
“Discovering that frogs are younger means that diversified into thousands of species faster than previously thought“, declared it’s a statement Jeff Streicher, senior curator in charge of amphibians and reptiles at the Natural History Museum, London, and author of the new study published in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
Frogs, with their various natural histories, have always been a subject of fascination for biologists and nature enthusiasts alike. However, previous attempts to create comprehensive phylogenies for these creatures were limited by the types of genetic data being used.
In this study, the researchers addressed these limitations by developing an expansive family tree that combined genetic data from phylogenomic studies with hundreds of genetic markers that included only a few species, and data from hundreds of small-scale studies of frogs that sometimes used just one. or more species. two markers but together they included thousands of species. This novel approach allowed them to include a staggering 5,242 species of frogs, This represents a remarkable 71% increase over previous family trees.
Adds Jeff Streicher: “Phylogenetic trees are the starting point for most studies looking at a specific group of animals, so it is essential that they be as accurate and detailed as possible.”
Dan Portik, lead author, adds: “Here we have not only augmented the data on which the frog phylogenetic tree is based, but we’ve also developed new software to help improve that data.”
The researchers developed software to facilitate the comparison of genes that generate large differences between species.
John J. Wiens, lead author and professor at the University of Arizona, says: “Previous studies were afraid of combining phylogenomic data sets with hundreds of markers with data from many smaller studies with fewer markers. We show that this is not only possible, but also leads to an improved family tree that can include thousands of species. This same approach could be applied to any group of organisms.”
The study represents a major advance in our understanding of frog evolution and provides a valuable resource for researchers and offers new avenues for the study of anuran amphibians. As the scientific community continues to explore and expand our knowledge of these remarkable creatures, this comprehensive phylogeny serves as the foundation for future discoveries.
#Frogs #million #years #younger #estimated