Molecular phylogenetics of sub-Saharan African natricine snakes, and the biogeographic origins of the Seychelles endemic Lycognathophis seychellensis

V Deepak; Simon T Maddock; Rhiannon Williams; Zoltán T Nagy; Werner Conradie; Sara Rocha; D James Harris; Ana Perera; Václav Gvoždík; Thomas M Doherty-Bone; Rachunliu G Kamei; Michele Menegon; Jim Labisko; Charles Morel; Natalie Cooper; Julia J Day; David J Gower

doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107152

Molecular phylogenetics of sub-Saharan African natricine snakes, and the biogeographic origins of the Seychelles endemic Lycognathophis seychellensis

Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2021 Aug:161:107152. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107152. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

Authors

V Deepak¹, Simon T Maddock², Rhiannon Williams³, Zoltán T Nagy⁴, Werner Conradie⁵, Sara Rocha⁶, D James Harris⁷, Ana Perera⁷, Václav Gvoždík⁸, Thomas M Doherty-Bone⁹, Rachunliu G Kamei¹⁰, Michele Menegon¹¹, Jim Labisko¹², Charles Morel¹³, Natalie Cooper¹⁰, Julia J Day¹⁴, David J Gower¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK. Electronic address: veerappandeepak@gmail.com.
² Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK; School of Biology, Chemistry and Forensic Science, Wolverhampton University, WV1 1LY, UK; Island Biodiversity and Conservation Centre, University of Seychelles, Mahé, Seychelles.
³ Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK; NRA Environmental Consultants, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia.
⁴ Independent Researcher, Berlin, Germany.
⁵ Port Elizabeth Museum (Bayworld), Humewood, Port Elizabeth 6013, South Africa; Department of Nature Conservation Management, Natural Resource Science and Management Cluster, Faculty of Science, George Campus, Nelson Mandela University, George, South Africa.
⁶ Biomedical Research Center (CINBIO), University of Vigo & Galicia Sur Health Institute, Vigo, Spain.
⁷ CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, University of Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
⁸ Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic; National Museum, Department of Zoology, Prague, Czech Republic.
⁹ Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK; Conservation Programs, Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Edinburgh EH12 6TL, UK.
¹⁰ Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK.
¹¹ Division of Biology & Conservation Ecology, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK; PAMS Foundation, P.O. Box 16556, Arusha, Tanzania.
¹² Island Biodiversity and Conservation Centre, University of Seychelles, Mahé, Seychelles; Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NR, UK; Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
¹³ Natural History Museum, Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles.
¹⁴ Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
¹⁵ Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK; Island Biodiversity and Conservation Centre, University of Seychelles, Mahé, Seychelles.

PMID: 33741534
DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107152

Abstract

Phylogenetic relationships of sub-Saharan African natricine snakes are understudied and poorly understood, which in turn has precluded analyses of the historical biogeography of the Seychelles endemic Lycognathophis seychellensis. We inferred the phylogenetic relationships of Seychelles and mainland sub-Saharan natricines by analysing a multilocus DNA sequence dataset for three mitochondrial (mt) and four nuclear (nu) genes. The mainland sub-Saharan natricines and L. seychellensis comprise a well-supported clade. Two maximally supported sets of relationships within this clade are (Limnophis,Natriciteres) and (Afronatrix,(Hydraethiops,Helophis)). The relationships of L. seychellensis with respect to these two lineages are not clearly resolved by analysing concatenated mt and nu data. Analysed separately, nu data best support a sister relationship of L. seychellensis with (Afronatrix,(Hydraethiops,Helophis)) and mt data best support a sister relationship with all mainland sub-Saharan natricines. Methods designed to cope with incomplete lineage sorting strongly favour the former hypothesis. Genetic variation among up to 33 L. seychellensis from five Seychelles islands is low. Fossil calibrated divergence time estimates support an overseas dispersal of the L. seychellensis lineage to the Seychelles from mainland Africa ca. 43-25 million years before present (Ma), rather than this taxon being a Gondwanan relic.

Keywords: Biogeography; Gondwana; Natricidae; Natricinae; Overseas dispersal; Systematics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Africa South of the Sahara
Animals
Colubridae / genetics*
Evolution, Molecular*
Phylogeny*
Phylogeography*
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Seychelles