African Zoology

Published by: Zoological Society of Southern Africa

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African Zoology 45(1):121-128. 2010
https://doi.org/10.3377/004.045.0108

Genetic Variation Across Tunisian Populations of the Anuran Species Discoglossus pictus and Pelophylax saharicus
No Access
Nabil Amor
Guillermo Velo-Antón
Sarra Farjallah
Khaled Said

Received: December 24, 2009; Accepted: March 16, 2010

Author Affiliations

Nabil Amor

Research Unit: Genetics, Biodiversity and Bio-Resources Development, Biotechnology Institute of Monastir, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia

Author for correspondence:

Guillermo Velo-Antón

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Corson Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, U.S.A. Grupo de Ecoloxía Evolutiva e da Conservación, Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Universidade de Vigo, E.U.E.T. Forestal, Campus Universitario, 36005 Pontevedra, Spain

Sarra Farjallah

Research Unit: Genetics, Biodiversity and Bio-Resources Development, Biotechnology Institute of Monastir, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia

Khaled Said

Research Unit: Genetics, Biodiversity and Bio-Resources Development, Biotechnology Institute of Monastir, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia

Responsible Editor: P. leF. N. Mouton

The intraspecific variation of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence was analysed for two widely distributed Tunisian anuran species, Discoglossus pictus and Pelophylax saharicus. We observed low genetic variation within both species (D. p. auritus 0.6% uncorrected genetic distances, P. saharicus 0.2%) and the absence of genetic structure within both species in the studied region. There is no correspondence between previously described morphotypes of P. saharicus in Tunisia and our genetic data. Our results show a lack of phylogeographic structure in both species despite their fragmented distribution across Tunisia.


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