Data from: The Rift Valley is a major barrier to dispersal of African clawed frogs (Xenopus) in Ethiopia

The Ethiopian highlands – home to striking species diversity and endemism – are bisected by the Rift Valley, a zone of tectonic divergence. Using molecular data we examined the evolutionary history of two co-distributed species of African clawed frog (Xenopus clivii and X. largeni) that are endemic to this region. Our field collections substantially extend the known distribution of X. largeni, a species formerly known from highlands southeast of the Rift, but that also occurs to the northwest. In both species, analysis of mitochondrial DNA and 19 autosomal loci identifies significant population structure, suggests little or no recent migration across the Rift Valley, and provides divergence time estimates across the Rift of ∼1–3.5 million years. These results indicate that the Ethiopian Rift Valley is a major obstacle to dispersal of highland-adapted amphibians.埃塞俄比亚高地以其出众的物种多样性与特有性著称，被构造张裂带埃塞俄比亚裂谷（Rift Valley）横贯分割。本研究利用分子数据，对该区域特有的两种同域分布非洲爪蟾（Xenopus clivii与X. largeni）的演化历史展开了探究。本次野外采集工作大幅拓展了X. largeni的已知分布范围——该物种此前仅记录于裂谷东南部高地，本次研究证实其亦分布于裂谷西北部区域。针对两个物种的线粒体DNA（mitochondrial DNA）与19个常染色体基因座的分析结果显示，二者均存在显著的种群遗传结构，且几乎不存在近期跨裂谷的基因交流；同时估算得到跨裂谷的物种分化时间约为100万至350万年。上述结果表明，埃塞俄比亚裂谷是适应高地生境的两栖动物扩散的主要障碍。