Multilocus species tree analyses resolve the radiation of the widespread Bufo bufo species group (Anura, Bufonidae).

New analytical methods are improving our ability to reconstruct robust species trees from multilocus datasets, despite difficulties in phylogenetic reconstruction associated with recent, rapid divergence, incomplete lineage sorting and/or introgression. In this study, we applied these methods to resolve the radiation of toads in the Bufo bufo (Anura, Bufonidae) species group, ranging from the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa to Siberia, based on sequences from two mitochondrial and four nuclear DNA regions (3490 base pairs). We obtained a fully-resolved topology, with the recently described Bufo eichwaldi from the Talysh Mountains in south Azerbaijan and Iran as the sister taxon to a clade including: (1) north African, Iberian, and most French populations, referred herein to Bufo spinosus based on the implied inclusion of populations from its type locality and (2) a second clade, sister to B. spinosus, including two sister subclades: one with all samples of Bufo verrucosissimus from the Caucasus and another one with samples of B. bufo from northern France to Russia, including the Apennine and Balkan peninsulas and most of Anatolia. Coalescent-based estimations of time to most recent common ancestors for each species and selected subclades allowed historical reconstruction of the diversification of the species group in the context of Mediterranean paleogeography and indicated a long evolutionary history in this region. Finally, we used our data to delimit the ranges of the four species, particularly the more widespread and historically confused B. spinosus and B. bufo, and identify potential contact zones, some of which show striking parallels with other co-distributed species.

[The use of somatosensory evoked potentials for cortical localization during surgical operations]. / Utilidad de los potenciales evocados somatosensoriales para la localización cortical durante intervenciones quirúrgicas.

INTRODUCTION: Identification of the cortical areas of Roland, by means of anatomical references seen on craniotomy, with a view to their conservation during surgical operations, is found to be associated with a high rate of error which may reach 50% with experienced surgeons. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Somatosensory evoked potentials (PESS) following stimulation of the median nerve may easily be recorded using electrodes situated directly over the cerebral cortex of patients under general anaesthesia. To obtain this recording, a bipolar set-up of a series of between 6 and 10 electrodes in line one centimetre apart allows identification, by means of phase opposition, of the cortical zones, usually the parietal zone adjacent to the sulcus of Roland, where these potentials are generated. Identification of motor sites (area 4) can be obtained by electrical stimulation of the cerebral cortex, although we have rejected this type of exploration because of its technical difficulty and possible undesirable effects. CONCLUSION: We consider that, when at surgical operation the cortical area corresponding to the median nerve is identified, and care taken not to damage the cortex 2 cm rostrally, excellent results may be obtained, reducing the sequelae which may occur with this type of surgery.