Phylogeography in the northern Andes: complex history and cryptic diversity in a cloud forest frog, Pristimantis w-nigrum (Craugastoridae).

We investigated the pattern of genetic and morphological variation and the timing of diversification in a Neotropical direct developing frog, Pristimantis w-nigrum (Craugastoridae) to gain insight into the historical biogeography of the northern Andes. Phylogenetic inference and analyses of genetic differentiation at mitochondrial and nuclear markers reveal eight mitochondrial clades that display concordant and highly structured nuclear genetic variation along both eastern and western slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes. These eight phylogroups are deeply divergent and show little evidence of change in effective size over substantial periods of time. Consistent with other phylogenetic studies of vertebrates in the Andes, the timing of genetic divergence among lineages coincides with sequential bouts of Andean orogenesis during the late Miocene and early Pliocene. Morphometric analyses recover little morphological variation among populations in spite of considerable genetic divergence. The deep genetic differentiation among populations of P. w-nigrum suggests that this species harbors unrecognized diversity and may represent a complex of cryptic species. These results illuminate the evolutionary processes that generate diversity in tropical montane biomes and underscore the fact that cryptic diversity may be an important component of Neotropical montane biodiversity.