Speciation and historical invasions of the Asian black-spined toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus)

Dufresnes, Christophe; Jablonski, Daniel; Ambu, Johanna; Prasad, Vishal Kumar; Bala Gautam, Kumudani; Kamei, Rachunliu G.; Mahony, Stephen; Hofmann, Sylvia; Masroor, Rafaqat; Alard, Bérénice; Crottini, Angelica; Edmonds, Devin; Ohler, Annemarie; Jiang, Jianping; Khatiwada, Janak R.; Gupta, Sandeep Kumar; Borzée, Amaël; Borkin, Leo J.; Skorinov, Dmitriy V.; Melnikov, Daniel A.; Milto, Konstantin D.; Konstantinov, Evgeny L.; Künzel, Sven; Suchan, Tomasz; Arkhipov, Dmitriy V.; Trofimets, Alexei V.; Nguyen, Tan Van; Suwannapoom, Chatmongkon; Litvinchuk, Spartak N.; Poyarkov, Nikolay A.

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-54933-4

Animaltranslocationsprovidestrikingexamplesofthehumanfootprinton biodiversity.Combiningcontinental-widegenomicandDNA-barcodinganalyses, we reconstructedthehistoricalbiogeographyoftheAsianblack-spinedtoad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus), atoxiccommensalamphibianthatcurrently threatens twobiodiversityhotspotsthrough biologicalinvasions(Wallaceaand Madagascar).Theresultsemphasizeacomplexdiversificationshapedbyspe- ciationandmitochondrialintrogressionthatcomprisestwodistinctspecies.One species(true D. melanostictus) isdistributedintheIndiansubcontinentandis invasiveinWallacea.Theotherspecies,whosenomenclatureremainsunsettled, diverged from D. melanostictus in theMioceneera(~7Mya)anddiversified across Southeast Asia,fromwhereitwasintroducedtoMadagascar.Remarkably,the Indonesian populationof D. melanostictus was recentlyestablishedfromIndia, which suggestshistorical,possiblyhuman-assisteddispersalacrosstheBayof Bengal, reflecting thecenturies-oldconnectionbetweentheseregions.

Speciation and historical invasions of the Asian black-spined toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus) / Dufresnes, Christophe; Jablonski, Daniel; Ambu, Johanna; Prasad, Vishal Kumar; Bala Gautam, Kumudani; Kamei, Rachunliu G.; Mahony, Stephen; Hofmann, Sylvia; Masroor, Rafaqat; Alard, Bérénice; Crottini, Angelica; Edmonds, Devin; Ohler, Annemarie; Jiang, Jianping; Khatiwada, Janak R.; Gupta, Sandeep Kumar; Borzée, Amaël; Borkin, Leo J.; Skorinov, Dmitriy V.; Melnikov, Daniel A.; Milto, Konstantin D.; Konstantinov, Evgeny L.; Künzel, Sven; Suchan, Tomasz; Arkhipov, Dmitriy V.; Trofimets, Alexei V.; Nguyen, Tan Van; Suwannapoom, Chatmongkon; Litvinchuk, Spartak N.; Poyarkov, Nikolay A.. - In: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. - ISSN 2041-1723. - ELETTRONICO. - 16:(2025), pp. 298.1-298.14. [10.1038/s41467-024-54933-4]