Phylogenetic Relationships of Cyclorana and the Litoria aurea Species-Group (Anura: Hylidae): A Molecular Perspective

Abstract

Serum albumins were compared in 17 species of Australian frogs by the quantitative micro-complement fixation technique. On the basis of albumin comparisons, all species of Cyclorana studied are phylogenetically closer to the L. aurea species-group than are other non-L. aurea group Litoria. Additionally, L. alboguttata is genetically closer to Cyclorana australis than any other frog tested (except for C. novaehollandiae) and clusters with the Cyclorana species, not with Litoria. By use of albumin as a molecular clock, it is estimated that the lineage leading to Cyclorana and the L. aurea species-group diverged in the Late Eocene from lineages leading to other Litoria. The lineages leading to the L. aurea group and to Cyclorana separated in the Oligocene. Eastern and western members of the L. aurea group diverged from each other in the Early Pliocene to Late Miocene, and not in the Pleistocene as is generally presumed.