Scientists at the Natural History Museum in London have mapped the frog family tree with unmatched breadth, covering amphibians of the order anura. This expansive phylogeny, built from diverse genetic data, marks a turning point in how researchers understand frog evolution. The work reveals that the origin and diversification of frogs occurred hundreds of millions of years later than previously assumed, reshaping the timeline for this key group of vertebrates.
Drawing on hundreds of genetic markers and a staggering volume of sequence data, the comprehensive phylogeny now includes 5,242 frog species. The study, published in a respected evolutionary biology journal, sets a new standard for how large-scale evolutionary relationships are inferred in amphibians and beyond.
Most striking is the revised start date for frog evolution. The lead author notes that earlier models suggested a split giving rise to today’s thousands of species around 210 to 220 million years ago. The new analysis places this divergence closer to 180 million years ago. This younger origin implies frogs diversified much more rapidly, leading to the expansive and varied frog diversity observed today.
There are many species of frogs in nature, spanning a wide range of habitats, colors, and life histories. Previous attempts to build a complete frog phylogeny were constrained by the types and breadth of genetic data available. The new approach overcomes these limits by merging data from large, genome-wide studies with hundreds of genetic markers from a broader set of species, plus insights from numerous smaller studies that cover additional species. The result is a cohesive framework that captures the evolutionary relationships across a large portion of the frog family tree, representing a remarkable increase in coverage compared with earlier trees.
Lead author notes that phylogenetic trees are the starting point for most comparative studies on animals, making precision and comprehensiveness essential for downstream research and biodiversity understanding. This work thus provides a robust foundation for future inquiries into frog evolution and for broader comparative analyses across vertebrates.
Portik, a key contributor to the study, emphasizes that the work not only enlarges the data underpinning the frog phylogeny but also introduces new software tools designed to improve data quality and usability. The team developed methods to better compare gene sequences that show substantial variation among species, enabling clearer interpretation of evolutionary relationships across thousands of taxa.
Another researcher explains that previously there was hesitation about combining very large genomic datasets with broader, smaller data compilations. The new methodology demonstrates that integrating these diverse data sources enhances, rather than hinders, the accuracy of the resulting family tree. The same system is applicable to other groups of organisms, suggesting a wide potential for advancing evolutionary biology beyond amphibians.
The study represents a meaningful advance in understanding frog evolution and provides a valuable resource for researchers studying anuran amphibians. The extensive phylogeny lays a stable groundwork for future discoveries as science continues to explore and expand knowledge of these remarkable creatures. This integrated framework opens doors to new questions about diversification, adaptation, and the ecological roles frogs have played through deep time.
Reference work: marked citation (ScienceDirect, 2023) describing the methodology and findings of the enlarged frog phylogeny and its implications for evolutionary biology.
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