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<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>Gary M. Fellers</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>S. Randal Voss</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>J. C. Oliver</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Gregory B. Pauly</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>H. Bradley Shaffer</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2004</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The red-legged frog, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Rana aurora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;, has been recognized as both a single, polytypic species and as two distinct species since its original description 150&amp;nbsp;years ago. It is currently recognized as one species with two geographically contiguous subspecies, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;aurora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt; and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;draytonii&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;; the latter is protected under the US Endangered Species Act. We present the results of a survey of 50 populations of red-legged frogs from across their range plus four outgroup species for variation in a phylogenetically informative, ∼400&amp;nbsp;base pairs (bp) fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;b&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt; gene. Our mtDNA analysis points to several major results. (1) In accord with several other lines of independent evidence, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;aurora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt; and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;draytonii&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt; are each diagnosably distinct, evolutionary lineages; the mtDNA data indicate that they do not constitute a monophyletic group, but rather that &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;aurora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt; and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;R. cascadae&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt; from the Pacific northwest are sister taxa; (2) the range of the&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;draytonii&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt; mtDNA clade extends about 100&amp;nbsp;km further north in coastal California than was previously suspected, and corresponds closely with the range limits or phylogeographical breaks of several codistributed taxa; (3) a narrow zone of overlap exists in southern Mendocino County between &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;aurora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt; and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;draytonii&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt; haplotypes, rather than a broad intergradation zone; and (4) the critically endangered population of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;draytonii&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt; in Riverside County, CA forms a distinct clade with frogs from Baja California, Mexico. The currently available evidence favours recognition of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;aurora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;draytonii&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt; as separate species with a narrow zone of overlap in northern California.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>10.1111/j.1365-294X.2004.02285.x</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>Wiley</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>Species boundaries, phylogeography, and conservation genetics of the red-legged frog (&lt;i&gt;Rana aurora/draytonii&lt;/i&gt;) complex</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>