Reed frog diversification in the Gulf of Guinea: Overseas dispersal, the progression rule, and in situ speciation

Oceanic islands accumulate endemic species when new colonists diverge from source populations or by in situ diversification of resident island endemics. The relative importance of dispersal versus in situ speciation in generating diversity on islands varies with a number of archipelago characteristics including island size, age, and remoteness. Here, we characterize interisland dispersal and in situ speciation in frogs endemic to the Gulf of Guinea islands. Using mitochondrial sequence and genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism data, we demonstrate that dispersal proceeded from the younger island (SAo Tome) to the older island (Principe) indicating that for organisms that disperse overseas on rafts, dispersal between islands may be determined by ocean currents and not island age. We find that dispersal between the islands is not ongoing, resulting in genotypically distinct but phenotypically similar lineages on the two islands. Finally, we demonstrate that in situ diversification on SAo Tome Island likely proceeded in allopatry due to the geographic separation of breeding sites, resulting in phenotypically distinct species. We find evidence of hybridization between the species where their ranges are sympatric and the hybrid zone coincides with a transition from agricultural land to primary forest, indicating that anthropogenic development may have facilitated secondary contact between previously allopatric species.