Novel phylogenomic inference and ‘Out of Asia’ biogeography of cobras, coral snakes and their allies
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Estimation of evolutionary relationships among lineages that rapidly diversified can be challenging, and, in such instances, inaccurate or unresolved phylogenetic estimates can lead to erroneous conclusions regarding historical geographical ranges of lineages. One example underscoring this issue has been the historical challenge posed by untangling the biogeographic origin of elapoid snakes, which includes numerous dangerously venomous species as well as species not known to be dangerous to humans. The worldwide distribution of this lineage makes it an ideal group for testing hypotheses related to historical faunal exchanges among the many continents and other landmasses occupied by contemporary elapoid species. We developed a novel suite of genomic resources, included worldwide sampling, and inferred a robust estimate of evolutionary relationships, which we leveraged to quantitatively estimate geographical range evolution through the deep-time history of this remarkable radiation. Our phylogenetic and biogeographical estimates of historical ranges definitively reject a lingering former 'Out of Africa' hypothesis and support an 'Out of Asia' scenario involving multiple faunal exchanges between Asia, Africa, Australasia, the Americas and Europe.
Source: Royal Society Open Science
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.240064
Language: English
Subfield: Paleontology
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,471
Awards: Dissertation Research: The Evolution of Acoustical and Functional Diversity of Advertisement calls in Asian and Melanesian Forest Frogs (subfamily Platymantinae), Collaborative Research: Phylogenetic Systematics and the Evolution of Reproductive Innovation in an Adaptive Radiation of Limnonectes Fanged Frogs, RAPID: Re-organization of Philippine Rainforest Biodiversity Following Disturbance on Regional Scales from a Powerful Typhoon, Collaborative Research: Discovery and analysis in the cradle of speciation theory: biotic surveys of Melanesia's terrestrial vertebrates, Collaborative Research: The Genomic Basis of Evolutionary Innovations in the Squamate Tree of Life, AToL: Collaborative Research: AmphibiaTree, An integrated Phylogenetic and Phyloinformatics Approach to the Tree of Amphibians, Biodiversity Surveys in the Southern Borderlands of the People's Republic of China, A Comprehensive Biotic Survey of Philippine Land Vertebrates and Their Parasites
OpenAlex ID: W4401439448