Systematics of the Anolis roquet series of the southern Lesser Antilles

We report a phylogenetic analysis of approximately 1330 bases of mitochondr ial DNA sequence for eight species of the Anolis roquet series (Anolis aene us, Anolis bonairensis, Anolis extremus, Anolis griseus, Anolis luciae, Ano lis richardi, Anolis roquet, Anolis trinitatus). These data contain 410 cha racters that are parsimony informative for the. A. roquet series plus three outgroup species. A parsimony analysis of these data, combined with previo usly published allozymic data, reveals a single most parsimonious tree with strong support for seven internal branches. Anolis bonairensis and A. luci ae are sister taxa and together form a sister taxon to a group containing t he other species. Relationships among A. griseus, A. trinitatus, and a clad e containing the remaining species are unresolved. Within the latter clade, A. richardi is the sister taxon to a group containing A. aeneus, A. extrem us, and A. roquet, with the latter two species being sister taxa. Reanalysi s of previously published allozymic data produces no conflicts with the mtD NA tree for well-supported branches. Parsimony analysis of the combined all ozymic and DNA data gives a tree identical in topology to the tree resultin g from the DNA analysis alone. In contrast to earlier studies, our phylogen etic analyses indicate that neither the small-bodied (A. aeneus, A. trinita tus) nor the large-bodied (A. griseus, A. richardi) species form monophylet ic groups.