Unexpected phylogeny of Bufo bufo species group (Anura, bufonidae) in the Mediterranean region

Anatolia and especially Mediterranean Basin is an ideal laboratory for phylogeographic and biogeographic studies. The collicion of the different tectonic plates and climatic oscillations in Quarternary Period left signature on the phylogeogrophical histories of the inhabiting species in Mediterranean Basin. As literature is investigated, the systematic uncertainty of the species (Bufo bufo and Bufo verrucosissimus) belonging to Bufo bufo species group distributing in Anatolia is outstanding in the Mediterranean Region. In recent years, different published molecular studies has pointed different results for the species distributing in this region. In this thesis, it is aimed to resolve the systematic uncertainty. In this context, phylogenetic analyses were performed (Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference) with mitochondrial DNA (16S and Cytb) and nuclear DNA (RPL3) sequences of individuals that sampled from 8 different provinces in the border of Mediterranean and Aegean Regions and also sequences obtained from GenBank. As a result of mitochondrial DNA sequence analyses, the samples of Mediterranean Region are determined as Bufo verrucosissimus whereas Aegean region as Bufo bufo. As to the results of nDNA sequence analyses, all samples were nested within the same branch and not a clear seperation observed. Also, a differentation was seen between Antalya and other provinces on the trees of mitochondrial DNA markers for Mediterranean Region.