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Molecular evidence for the paraphyly of Scolecophidia and its evolutionary implications
Author(s) -
Miralles Aurélien,
Marin Julie,
Markus Damien,
Herrel Anthony,
Hedges S. Blair,
Vidal Nicolas
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1111/jeb.13373
Subject(s) - paraphyly , biology , clade , fossorial , phylogenetic tree , evolutionary biology , sister group , extant taxon , phylogenetics , zoology , ecology , genetics , gene
The phylogenetic relationships between the three main clades of worm snakes remain controversial. This question is, however, crucial to elucidate the origin of the successful snake radiation, as these burrowing and miniaturized wormlike organisms represent the earliest branching clades within the snake tree. The present molecular phylogenetic study, intended to minimize the amount of missing data, provides fully resolved inter‐subfamilial relationships among Typhlopidae. It also brings robust evidence that worm snakes (Scolecophidia) are paraphyletic, with the scolecophidian family Anomalepididae recovered with strong support as sister clade to the ‘typical snakes’ (Alethinophidia). Ancestral state reconstructions applied to three different traits strongly associated to a burrowing life‐style (scolecoidy, absence of retinal cones and microstomy) provide results in favour of a burrowing origin of snakes, and suggest that worm snakes might be the only extant fossorial representatives of the primordial snake incursion towards an underground environment.