扩散和地理隔离在物种形成中起着重要作用。高海拨环境下的两栖动物长期栖息于较为寒冷的气候条件下，自身活动性较差，而青藏高原东缘山区受高原隆起影响，地质结构极端复杂，这使得居于青藏高原东缘的宝兴树蛙成为研究进化和物种形成的良好材料。
中科院成都生物研究所李家堂博士在昆明动物所张亚平研究员的指导下，完成了宝兴树蛙复合体(Rhacoph- orus dugritei complex)内所有物种的系统和进化研究。宝兴树蛙复合体内各类群个体均生活在海拔高于2000米的高山湿地环境内，分布区横跨三大地理学热点研究区域：一是横跨大渡河干热河谷；二是在四川的大小凉山至云南的高黎贡山中间存在间断分布；三是横跨整个云南西部至西南部及越南的北部高山地区，该区域地貌结构特殊，高山与河流错综复杂。
该研究以居群为单位，采集该复合体内重点代表区域的个体，运用系统发育地理学、形态学和分类学的理论和方法，探测了宝兴树蛙复合体内物种的系统发育关系，初步探讨了系统发育地理格局的形成，并在此基础上描述发表了两个新种。
该研究结果近期发表在动物学杂志Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society上。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00790.x
PMC:
PMID:
Molecular phylogeny of treefrogs in the Rhacophorus dugritei species complex (Anura: Rhacophoridae), with descriptions of two new species
JIA-TANG LI1,2,5, JUN LIU1,5, YUE-YING CHEN1, JIA-WEI WU3, ROBERT W. MURPHY4, ER-MI ZHAO1, YUE-ZHAO WANG1,*, YA-PING ZHANG2,6,*
The taxonomy of the Asian treefrogs of the Rhacophorus dugritei complex, a group of widespread and morphologically similar species, is very controversial. To address many issues, we investigate the historical relationships among representative samples based on ∼3 kbp of nucleotide sequences from both the mitochondrial (12S rRNA, tRNAvaline, and 16S rRNA) and nuclear (tyrosinase and rhodopsin) genomes. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and partitioned Bayesian inference analyses resolve three well-supported lineages. Lineage A, including Rhacophorus dugritei and Rhacophorus hui, is sister to lineage B, which contains Rhacophorus hungfuensis, Rhacophorus minimus, R. hui from Hubei, and R. dugritei from Chongqing. Together, these lineages are the sister group of lineage C, which is composed of Rhacophorus puerensis from China and Vietnam, and R. dugritei from Vietnam. The phylogeny validates the previously contested species R. puerensis, which is distributed northwards from northern Vietnam to north-western Yunnan, China. Rhacophorus hui is also considered to be a valid species, the range of which is restricted to Zhaojue County, Sichuan, China. Specimens formerly identified as R. dugritei from Chongqing and R. hui from Lichuan, Hubei, are described as new species Rhacophorus hongchibaensis sp. nov. and Rhacophorus wui sp. nov., respectively. Diagnoses, detailed descriptions, illustrations, data on distribution and ecology are provided for the two new species.
