PLoS ONE (Jan 2019)

Evolutionary history of burrowing asps (Lamprophiidae: Atractaspidinae) with emphasis on fang evolution and prey selection.

  • Frank Portillo,
  • Edward L Stanley,
  • William R Branch,
  • Werner Conradie,
  • Mark-Oliver Rödel,
  • Johannes Penner,
  • Michael F Barej,
  • Chifundera Kusamba,
  • Wandege M Muninga,
  • Mwenebatu M Aristote,
  • Aaron M Bauer,
  • Jean-François Trape,
  • Zoltán T Nagy,
  • Piero Carlino,
  • Olivier S G Pauwels,
  • Michele Menegon,
  • Ivan Ineich,
  • Marius Burger,
  • Ange-Ghislain Zassi-Boulou,
  • Tomáš Mazuch,
  • Kate Jackson,
  • Daniel F Hughes,
  • Mathias Behangana,
  • Eli Greenbaum

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214889
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 4
p. e0214889

Abstract

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Atractaspidines are poorly studied, fossorial snakes that are found throughout Africa and western Asia, including the Middle East. We employed concatenated gene-tree analyses and divergence dating approaches to investigate evolutionary relationships and biogeographic patterns of atractaspidines with a multi-locus data set consisting of three mitochondrial (16S, cyt b, and ND4) and two nuclear genes (c-mos and RAG1). We sampled 91 individuals from both atractaspidine genera (Atractaspis and Homoroselaps). Additionally, we used ancestral-state reconstructions to investigate fang and diet evolution within Atractaspidinae and its sister lineage (Aparallactinae). Our results indicated that current classification of atractaspidines underestimates diversity within the group. Diversification occurred predominantly between the Miocene and Pliocene. Ancestral-state reconstructions suggest that snake dentition in these taxa might be highly plastic within relatively short periods of time to facilitate adaptations to dynamic foraging and life-history strategies.