Cryptic Lineages in a Small Frog: the Post-glacial History of the Spring Peeper, Pseudacris Crucifer (Anura: Hylidae)

The spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) is believed to have been a primary herpetological invader of eastern North America following the most recent period of glacial retreat. We examined the phylogeographic pattern and population structure of P. crucifer to determine whether the distribution of haplotypic variants reflect post-Pleistocene recolonization dynamics. A number of geographically isolated evolutionary lineages were supported by both maximum parsimony and neighbor-joining analyses, and by coalescence approaches applied to mtDNA. South-western Ontario represents a high level of genotypic diversity (pi) due to the presence of two divergent lineages. The geographic distribution of these lineages are interpreted as reflecting post-glacial recolonization dynamics from separate, isolated refugia during the late Pleistocene that have come into secondary contact in SW Ontario. The phylogenetic placement of haplotypes from the range of P. crucifer bartramiana (Florida and South Carolina) does not allow for monophyly of P. crucifer crucifer, and therefore the bartramiana subspecies designation does not reflect a separate evolutionary lineage.