Albumin Evolution in Marsupial Frogs (Hylidae: Gastrotheca)

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Abstract
Albumin studies of 20 species of marsupial frogs representing five genera of the Amphignathodontinae provided the basis for phylogenetic constructs that compare favorably with arrangements based on more traditional morphological characters. A notable exception is Flectonotus, which shows no immunological cross-reactivity with other amphignathodontine frogs. Analyses of 11 populations of G. riobambae show the existence of two groups of populations that differ noticeably in their amount of albumin divergence from the population of G. riobambae at Quito, Ecuador. Generic differentiation among amphignathodontine hylid frogs probably occurred at the beginning of the Cenozoic, when the Andes were first uplifted. The differentiation of Andean species of Gastrotheca into two major groups occurred at the end of the Miocene, and speciation events within the groups took place in the late Pliocene and Pleistocene. Our results reemphasize the independence of molecular and morphological evolution and show that the distinct reproductive modes and morphological differences have evolved in a brief evolutionary time.

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