Phylogeny and conservation status of the Indian egg-eater snake, Elachistodon westermanni Reinhardt, 1863 (Serpentes, Colubridae)
Phylogeny and conservation status of the Indian egg-eater snake, Elachistodon westermanni Reinhardt, 1863 (Serpentes, Colubridae)
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印度食蛋蛇 Elachistodon westermanni Reinhardt, 1863（蛇类，游蛇科）的系统发育和保护状况
DOI：
10.1163/15685381-17000201
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发表时间：
2018
影响因子：
1.6
通讯作者：
Karthikeyan Vasudevan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
A. Mohan;Avinash Visvanathan;Karthikeyan Vasudevan
印度蛋食者（Elachistodon westermanni）是分布在印度次大陆的Elachistodon属的单一物种。在非洲，有 13 种属于 Dasypeltis 的蛋食蛇。由于相似的饮食特化，Elachistodon 和 Dasypeltis 这两个属被认为密切相关，并且在印度次大陆和非洲大陆之间具有共同的生物地理历史。在我们的研究中，我们扩增了韦斯特曼尼蛇的三个线粒体基因和一个核基因，并利用已发表的序列重建分子系统发育，以了解非洲和印度食蛋蛇之间的进化关系。我们使用形态特征来强化我们对系统发育关系的推论。我们发现印度食蛋蛇是博伊加属猫蛇的姐妹，它与非洲食蛋蛇没有共同的祖先。形态特征表明，Elachistodon 和 Dasypeltis 之间的相似之处仅在于与其摄食行为相关的特征。 Elachistodon westermann 与 Boiga spp. 相似。在其他几个形态特征中，我们暂时将 E. westermann 归为 Boiga 属。多年来对印度次大陆的威氏巨蜥记录的汇编揭示了积极的“拉撒路”效应。我们得出的结论是，蛇属Dasypeltis和Elachistodon的吃蛋行为和相关的形态特征是趋同进化的结果。根据韦斯特曼尼桉的保护状况，它可以作为保护印度正在迅速消失的重要野生动物栖息地的旗舰物种。
The Indian egg-eater ( Elachistodon westermanni ) is a monotypic species of the Genus Elachistodon distributed across the Indian sub-continent. In Africa, there are 13 species of egg-eating snakes of the Genus Dasypeltis . These two genera, Elachistodon and Dasypeltis were thought to be closely related due to similar diet specialization, and shared biogeographic history between the Indian sub-continent and the continent of Africa. In our study, we amplified three mitochondrial genes and one nuclear gene from E. westermanni and reconstructed molecular phylogeny utilizing published sequences to understand the evolutionary relationships between the African, and the Indian egg-eating snakes. We used morphological characters to reinforce our inferences on phylogenetic relationships. We show that the Indian egg-eater is sister to cat snakes of the Genus Boiga , and it does not share recent ancestry with the African egg-eating snakes. Morphological character states point at similarities between Elachistodon and Dasypeltis only in characters associated with their feeding behaviour. Elachistodon westermanni was similar to the Boiga spp. in several other morphological characters, and we provisionally assign E. westermanni under the genus Boiga . Compilation of records of E. westermanni across the Indian sub-continent over the years revealed a positive “Lazarus” effect. We conclude that, the egg-eating behaviour and the associated morphological characters in the snake genera Dasypeltis and Elachistodon are a result of convergent evolution. Based on the conservation status of E. westermanni , it could serve as a flagship species to conserve important wildlife habitats that are being lost rapidly in India.
影响因子：
6.5
作者：
Nylander, JAA;Ronquist, F;Nieves-Aldrey, JL
通讯作者：
Nieves-Aldrey, JL
影响因子：
1.6
作者：
Silvestro, Daniele;Michalak, Ingo
通讯作者：
Michalak, Ingo