RESEARCH ARTICLE The Phylogeography and Population Demography of the Yunnan Caecilian (Ichthyophis bannanicus): Massive Rivers as Barriers to Gene Flow Hui Wang1☯, Xia Luo1☯, Shaoquan Meng2, Yongjian Bei2, Tao Song1, Tao Meng3, Guifen Li2*, Baowei Zhang1* a11111 1 Anhui Key Laboratory of Eco-engineering and Bio-technique, School of Life Sciences, Anhui University, Hefei, 230601, Anhui, China, 2 College of Life Science & Technology, Yulin Normal University, Yulin, 537000, Guangxi, China, 3 Guangxi Forestry Inventory and Planning Institute, Nanning, 530011, Guangxi, China ☯ These authors contributed equally to this work. *
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[email protected] (BZ) OPEN ACCESS Citation: Wang H, Luo X, Meng S, Bei Y, Song T, Abstract Meng T, et al. (2015) The Phylogeography and Population Demography of the Yunnan Caecilian Ichthyophis bannanicus is the only caecilian species in China. In this study, the phylogeo- (Ichthyophis bannanicus): Massive Rivers as Barriers graphy and population demography of I. bannanicus were explored, based on the mitochon- to Gene Flow. PLoS ONE 10(4): e0125770. drial DNA genes (cyt b and ND2) and 15 polymorphic microsatellite loci. Altogether 158 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0125770 individuals were collected from five populations in Yunnan province, Guangxi province, Academic Editor: Lorenzo Zane, University of Guangdong province, and Northern Vietnam. Phylogeographical and population structure Padova, ITALY analysis identified either two groups (Xishuangbanna, Northern Vietnam-Yulin-Yangchun- Received: October 7, 2014 Deqing) or three groups (Xishuangbanna, Northern Vietnam-Yulin-Yangchun, and Deqing), Accepted: March 26, 2015 indicating that the Red River and Pearl River systems may have acted as gene-flow barriers Published: April 27, 2015 for I.