Browsing by Author "Pastenes, Luis"

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    Confirmation of the presence of Alsodes pehuenche Cei, 1976 (Anura, Alsodidae) in Chile: morphological, chromosomal and molecular evidence
    (2013) Correa, Claudio; Pastenes, Luis; Iturra, Patricia; Calderon, Pilar; Vasquez, Dayana; Lam, Natalia; Salinas, Hugo; Mendez, Marco A.
    The presence of Alsodes pehuenche in Chile was reported in the year 2010, based on the observation of larvae near the Chilean-Argentinean border, about 3 km east of the northeast corner of the Laguna del Maule (Region del Maule, Chile). The taxonomic history of this species dates from 1965, with the re-discovery of Telmatobius montanus (which was later transferred to the genus Alsodes) in two localities, near the Laguna del Maule and Valle Pehuenche, located in Chile and Argentina, respectively. The literature review shows that the locality of Argentina described in 1965 became the type locality of A. pehuenche, while the Chilean locality was ignored; thus this latter locality continues to be a valid record for A. montanus. In this study we provide morphological, chromosomal and molecular evidence, which confirms the presence of A. pehuenche in Chile, in two new localities located near the site recorded in 2010 and the Laguna del Maule. We also include some field observations, which are discussed in the context of the information available for this species.
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    Invasive Pleurodema thaul from Robinson Crusoe Island: molecular identification of its geographic origin and comments on the phylogeographic structure of this species in mainland Chile
    (2008) Correa, Claudio; Lobos, Gabriel; Pastenes, Luis; Mendez, Marco A.
    Robinson Crusoe Island, located 670 kin west of the coast of central Chile, is characterized by a high number of endemic and introduced species of plants and animals. This island lacks native amphibians or reptiles, but Somewhat more than 30 years ago the toad Pleurodema thaul, native to continental Chile, was introduced. The coast of central Chile was identified as the geographic Source of the introduced population of Robinson Crusoe by means of phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial sequences. These analyses also suggest a high degree of phylogeographic structure for this species in continental Chile.
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    Phylogeography of Rhinella spinulosa (Anura: Bufonidae) in northern Chile
    (2010) Correa, Claudio; Pastenes, Luis; Sallaberry, Michel; Veloso, Alberto; Mendez, Marco A.
    The southern part of the Altiplano of the Andes Range is characterized by a complex hydrography, due to an intense geologic activity and the effects of the Pleistocene glaciations. This has produced a high degree of diversity at the species level in some aquatic taxa (e. g., fish and amphibians), which suggests that these same processes have produced divergence at the intraspecific level in co-distributed taxa. We investigated the genetic variation in populations of the anuran Rhinella spinulosa which represent its entire distribution in the extreme north of Chile (17 degrees 44'S-23 degrees 47'S). Haplotype networks of the mitochondrial control region recognized two main lineages, one of which is distributed from the northern boundary of Chile to the Salar de Alconcha and the other from the Salar de Carcote to the locality of Tilomonte. The northern lineage showed little phylogeographic structure; a few very frequent haplotypes are widely distributed. The southern lineage had greater structure, due principally to the high divergence of the populations from the eastern springs of the Salar de Atacama. Fu's Fs test and the mismatch distributions suggested that most of the populations of both lineages are in the process of demographic expansion. The spatial distribution of the genetic variability was correlated with the hydrography and the paleoclimatological data available for the region, which suggested that geographic expansions followed by periods of contraction of population ranges, together with sporadic floods may explain the observed phylogeographic patterns.