Allopatric Speciation and Interspecific Gene Flow Driven by Niche Conservatism of Diploderma Tree Lizards in Taiwan

Allopatric speciation is a widely accepted hypothesis for species distributed across geographic barriers. Meanwhile, niche conservatism, the tendency of species to retain their ancestral ecological traits, helps reinforce genetic differentiation by stabilising species distributions over time and reducing the role of competition in shaping range boundaries. In contrast, hybridisation can occur at the edges of distribution after secondary contact following climatic or geological events, leading to a reduction in genetic divergence between divergent lineages. In this study, we investigated the role of geographic barriers, niche conservatism and gene flow in the speciation history of Diploderma species in Taiwan, where geographically distinct taxa share similar environmental preferences. By using ddRAD-seq data, seven distinct genetic clusters were identified with two putatively new cryptic species in D. brevipes and D. polygonatum. Most sister species pairs share similar climatic niches based on niche equivalency and similarity tests. We further detected significant historical gene flow between lineages of D. brevipes and D. polygonatum, where secondary contact might have occurred because of palaeoclimate changes and historical demographic expansion. Our results demonstrate that niche conservatism does not always act in concert to strengthen the result of allopatric speciation; instead, it may also lead to gene flow between divergent lineages following secondary contact. On the other hand, postdivergence gene flow may be a creating force generating phenotypic diversity in sexually selected traits in our study system. The underestimated species diversity of Diploderma in Taiwan requires further taxonomic work in the future.