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Das S, Greenbaum E, Meiri S, Bauer AM, Burbrink FT, Raxworthy CJ, Weinell JL, Brown RM, Brecko J, Pauwels OSG, Rabibisoa N, Raselimanana AP, Merilä J. Ultraconserved elements-based phylogenomic systematics of the snake superfamily Elapoidea, with the description of a new Afro-Asian family. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2023; 180:107700. [PMID: 36603697 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2022] [Revised: 12/27/2022] [Accepted: 12/29/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
The highly diverse snake superfamily Elapoidea is considered to be a classic example of ancient, rapid radiation. Such radiations are challenging to fully resolve phylogenetically, with the highly diverse Elapoidea a case in point. Previous attempts at inferring a phylogeny of elapoids produced highly incongruent estimates of their evolutionary relationships, often with very low statistical support. We sought to resolve this situation by sequencing over 4,500 ultraconserved element loci from multiple representatives of every elapoid family/subfamily level taxon and inferring their phylogenetic relationships with multiple methods. Concatenation and multispecies coalescent based species trees yielded largely congruent and well-supported topologies. Hypotheses of a hard polytomy were not retained for any deep branches. Our phylogenies recovered Cyclocoridae and Elapidae as diverging early within Elapoidea. The Afro-Malagasy radiation of elapoid snakes, classified as multiple subfamilies of an inclusive Lamprophiidae by some earlier authors, was found to be monophyletic in all analyses. The genus Micrelaps was consistently recovered as sister to Lamprophiidae. We establish a new family, Micrelapidae fam. nov., for Micrelaps and assign Brachyophis to this family based on cranial osteological synapomorphy. We estimate that Elapoidea originated in the early Eocene and rapidly diversified into all the major lineages during this epoch. Ecological opportunities presented by the post-Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event may have promoted the explosive radiation of elapoid snakes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sunandan Das
- Ecological Genetics Research Unit, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Eli Greenbaum
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Avenue, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
| | - Shai Meiri
- School of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Aaron M Bauer
- Department of Biology and Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stewardship, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
| | - Frank T Burbrink
- Department of Herpetology, American Museum of Natural History, 200 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA
| | - Christopher J Raxworthy
- Department of Herpetology, American Museum of Natural History, 200 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA
| | - Jeffrey L Weinell
- Department of Herpetology, American Museum of Natural History, 200 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
| | - Rafe M Brown
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
| | - Jonathan Brecko
- Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Rue Vautier 29, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium; Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium
| | - Olivier S G Pauwels
- Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Rue Vautier 29, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Nirhy Rabibisoa
- Sciences de la Vie et de l'Environnement, Faculté des Sciences, de Technologies et de l'Environnement, Université de Mahajanga, Campus Universitaire d'Ambondrona, BP 652, Mahajanga 401, Madagascar
| | - Achille P Raselimanana
- Zoologie et Biodiversité Animale, Faculté des Sciences, Université d'Antananarivo, BP 906, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
| | - Juha Merilä
- Ecological Genetics Research Unit, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland; Area of Ecology and Biodiversity, School of Biological Sciences, Kadoorie Biological Sciences Building, Pokfulam Road, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
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Keates C, Conradie W, Dalu T, Dondofema F, Riddel ES, Wasserman RJ. Phylogenetic placement of the enigmatic Floodplain water snake, Lycodonomorphus obscuriventris FitzSimons, 1964. KOEDOE: AFRICAN PROTECTED AREA CONSERVATION AND SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.4102/koedoe.v64i1.1698] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Abstract
Lycodonomorphus is a genus of lamprophiid water snake endemic in Africa. Although widespread, abundant and presumably an important component of many aquatic and semi-aquatic food webs, these snakes are poorly understood taxonomically, particularly from a phylogenetic perspective. With only four of the nine species currently sequenced, this study attempts to improve our understanding of the evolutionary relationships within the genus through the phylogenetic placement of one of the most elusive species, Lycodonomorphus obscuriventris. Collected in the Ramsar declared Makuleke Wetlands in northern Kruger National Park (South Africa), the sample used in this study not only yielded the first DNA sequences for the taxon but also represented the most northerly South African record, bridging the gap between the southern and northern populations. The snake was sequenced for three partial mitochondrial genes (16S, Cyt-b, ND4) and one partial nuclear gene (c-mos) and phylogenetically placed, relative to the rest of the genus, using maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI). Sequence divergences between sister taxa were also estimated using pairwise distance analysis. The concatenated phylogenetic reconstruction yielded similar topological structuring when compared to phylogenies from past articles, with both the ML and BI algorithms recovering strong support for L. obscuriventris as sister to a clade comprising of L. whytii + L. laevissimus + L. rufulus. The phylogenetic placement, albeit based on a single sample, challenges the original placement (morphological) of L. obscuriventris as sub-specific within L. whytii, suggesting that multiple species concepts should be considered when delineating species within this group.Conservation implications: Prior to the discovery of the new record, the global distribution of L. obscuriventris was characterised by two disjunct populations. The new record bridges the distribution gap between these two populations, rendering the distribution continuous. This bodes well for the species as there is likely no barrier to gene flow, thereby buffering the species from localised threats given the more expansive distribution. Furthermore, given that the specimen was sampled from the Kruger National Park, the species is likely to be well-protected as much of its distribution within South Africa seems to fall within protected areas.
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Georgalis GL, Szyndlar Z. First occurrence of Psammophis (Serpentes) from Europe witnesses another Messinian herpetofaunal dispersal from Africa - biogeographic implications and a discussion of the vertebral morphology of psammophiid snakes. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2022; 305:3263-3282. [PMID: 35139258 DOI: 10.1002/ar.24892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2021] [Revised: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
We here describe abundant new snake material from the late Miocene (MN 13) of Salobreña, Spain. Vertebral morphology suggests a referral of the specimens to the extant psammophiid Psammophis, documenting the first occurrence of this genus in Europe. The diversity and disparity across the vertebral morphology of different psammophiid genera is discussed. We identify vertebral features that could diagnose Psammophis and therefore enable the recognition of the genus in the fossil record. A comparison of the new Spanish form with other taxa is conducted. We provide a detailed review of the psammophiid fossil record. Material previously described from the middle Miocene of Beni Mellal, Morocco is here tentatively referred to as? Psammophis sp., an action that renders that occurrence as the oldest (probable) record of the genus and Psammophiidae as a whole, providing thus a potential calibration point. On the other hand, Eastern European Pliocene material that had been previously supposedly referred to Psammophis is here discarded as being rather fragmentary, not affording any more precise determination. The two psammophiid genera Psammophis and Malpolon appear almost simultaneously in the European fossil record (MN 13), with the former achieving only a short-lived and apparently geographically limited distribution in the continent, while the latter still exists in its modern herpetofauna. We assess biogeographic implications of the new find, suggesting a direct dispersal event from northwestern Africa to the Iberian Peninsula during the late Miocene, facilitated by the Messinian Salinity Crisis. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgios L Georgalis
- Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sławkowska 17, 31-016, Kraków, Poland
| | - Zbigniew Szyndlar
- Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, Polish Academy of Sciences, Sławkowska 17, 31-016, Kraków, Poland
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Keates C, Conradie W, Greenbaum E, Edwards S. A snake in the grass: Genetic structuring of the widespread African grass snake (
Psammophylax
Fitzinger 1843), with the description of a new genus and a new species. J ZOOL SYST EVOL RES 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Chad Keates
- Zoology and Entomology Molecular Lab Department of Zoology and Entomology Rhodes University Grahamstown South Africa
| | - Werner Conradie
- Port Elizabeth Museum (Bayworld) Humewood South Africa
- School of Natural Resource Management Nelson Mandela University George Campus George South Africa
- National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, Wild Bird Trust Hogsback South Africa
| | - Eli Greenbaum
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Texas at El Paso El Paso TX USA
| | - Shelley Edwards
- Zoology and Entomology Molecular Lab Department of Zoology and Entomology Rhodes University Grahamstown South Africa
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