Data from: Convergent evolution across the Australian continent: ecotype diversification drives morphological convergence in two distantly related clades of Australian frogs

Animals from different clades but subject to similar environments often
evolve similar body shapes and physiological adaptations due to convergent
evolution, but this has been rarely tested at the transcontinental level
and across entire classes of animal. Australia's biome diversity,
isolation and aridification history provide excellent opportunities for
comparative analyses on broad-scale macroevolutionary patterns. We
collected morphological and environmental data on eighty-four (98%)
Australian hylid frog species and categorized them into ecotypes. Using a
phylogenetic framework, we tested the hypothesis that frogs from the same
ecotype display similar body shape patterns: (i) across all the Australian
hylids, and (ii) through comparison with a similar previous study on 127
(97%) Australian myobatrachid species. Body size and shape variation did
not follow a strong phylogenetic pattern and was not tightly correlated
with environment, but there was a stronger association between morphotype
and ecotype. Both arboreal and aquatic frogs had long limbs, whereas limbs
of fossorial species were shorter. Other terrestrial species were
convergent on the more typical frog body shape. We quantified the strength
of morphological convergence at two levels: (i) between fossorial
myobatrachid and hylid frogs, and (ii) in each ecomorph within the hylids.
We found strong convergence within ecotypes, especially in fossorial
species. Ecotypes were also reflected in physiological adaptations: both
arboreal and cocooned fossorial frogs tend to have higher rates of
evaporative water loss. Our results illustrate how adaptation to different
ecological niches plays a crucial role in morphological evolution,
boosting phenotypic diversity within a clade. Despite phylogenetic
conservatism, morphological adaptation to repeatedly emerging new
environments can erase the signature of ancestral morphotypes, resulting
in phenotypic diversification and convergence both within and between
diverse clades.