ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2014
Rigorous approaches to species delimitation have significant implications for African crocodilian systematics and conservation.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed.
- Genome evolution and long-term demographic history in true crocodiles.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2026Article
- The Vertebrate Genomes Project Phase I: A global reference genome resource.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Diversity, distribution and conservation of crocodiles (Order: Crocodylia) in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Plio-Pleistocene Climatic Fluctuations and Divergence With Gene Flow Drive Continent-Wide Diversification in an African Bird.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Size, not phylogeny, explains the morphology of the endosseous labyrinth in the crown clade Crocodylia.Journal of anatomy · 2025Article
- The effects of cryptic diversity on diversification dynamics analyses in Crocodylia.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Low Genetic Diversity and Complex Population Structure in Black Piranha (Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Pseudosuchian thermometabolism: A review of the past two decades.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2025Review
- Delimitation of EndangeredAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Phylogenomics and Pervasive Genome-Wide Phylogenetic Discordance Among Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus).Systematic biology · 2024Article
- Central African dwarf crocodiles found in syntopy are comparably divergent to South American dwarf caimans.Biology letters · 2024Article
- Environmental DNA-based biomonitoring of Cuban Crocodylus and their accompanying vertebrate fauna from Zapata Swamp, Cuba.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The Cytogenetic Map of the Nile Crocodile (International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Giant dwarf crocodiles from the Miocene of Kenya and crocodylid faunal dynamics in the late Cenozoic of East Africa.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2022Article
- SPEDE-sampler: An R Shiny application to assess how methodological choices and taxon sampling can affect Generalized Mixed Yule Coalescent output and interpretation.Molecular ecology resources · 2022Article
- Braincase anatomy of extant Crocodylia, with new insights into the development and evolution of the neurocranium in crocodylomorphs.Journal of anatomy · 2021Article
- Article
- Paleogenomics illuminates the evolutionary history of the extinct Holocene "horned" crocodile of Madagascar, Voay robustus.Communications biology · 2021Article
- Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Accurate species delimitation is a central assumption of biology that, in groups such as the Crocodylia, is often hindered by highly conserved morphology and frequent introgression. In Africa, crocodilian systematics has been hampered by complex regional biogeography and confounded taxonomic history. We used rigorous molecular and morphological species delimitation methods to test the hypothesis that the slender-snouted crocodile (Mecistops cataphractus) is composed of multiple species corresponding to the Congolian and Guinean biogeographic zones. Speciation probability was assessed by using 11 mitochondrial and nuclear genes, and cranial morphology for over 100 specimens, representing the full geographical extent of the species distribution. Molecular Bayesian and phylogenetic species delimitation showed unanimous support for two Mecistops species isolated to the Upper Guinean and Congo (including Lower Guinean) biomes that were supported by 13 cranial characters capable of unambiguously diagnosing each species. Fossil-calibrated phylogenetic reconstruction estimated that the species split ± 6.5-7.5 Ma, which is congruent with intraspecies divergence within the sympatric crocodile genus Osteolaemus and the formation of the Cameroon Volcanic Line. Our results underscore the necessity of comprehensive phylogeographic analyses within currently recognized taxa to detect cryptic species within the Crocodylia. We recommend that the community of crocodilian researchers reconsider the conceptualization of crocodilian species especially in the light of the conservation ramifications for this economically and ecologically important group.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.