TY - JOUR
T1 - A phylogeny and genus-level revision of the African file snakes Gonionotophis Boulenger (Squamata: Lamprophiidae)
AU - Broadley, Donald G.
AU - Tolley, Krystal A.
AU - Conradie, Werner
AU - Wishart, Sarah
AU - Trape, Jean François
AU - Burger, Marius
AU - Kusamba, Chifundera
AU - Zassi-Boulou, Ange Ghislain
AU - Greenbaum, Eli
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Herpetological Association of Africa.
PY - 2018/1/2
Y1 - 2018/1/2
N2 - The sub-Saharan African file snake genus Gonionotophis is currently comprised of 15 species. However, the concept of this genus has been confounded by morphological and genetic differences between the constituent taxa. Due to the dearth of DNA samples, a taxonomic assessment has been impractical to date. We therefore sequenced two mitochondrial and one nuclear marker (16S, cyt b, and c-mos) from 45 samples representing ten species of Gonionotophis to construct a molecular phylogeny using Bayesian and likelihood approaches. Four divergent and well-supported clades were recovered, including: (1) grantii + brussauxi; (2) poensis + stenophthalmus; (3) nyassae; and (4) capensis, chanleri, crossi, guirali and savorgnani. Based on these results and morphological data, the genus Gonionotophis is restricted to the first clade, Mehelya is resurrected for the species in the second clade, and new genera are described for the remaining two clades. ZooBank—urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A82CFAD6-E2E0-439E-90BB-9224E225426B.
AB - The sub-Saharan African file snake genus Gonionotophis is currently comprised of 15 species. However, the concept of this genus has been confounded by morphological and genetic differences between the constituent taxa. Due to the dearth of DNA samples, a taxonomic assessment has been impractical to date. We therefore sequenced two mitochondrial and one nuclear marker (16S, cyt b, and c-mos) from 45 samples representing ten species of Gonionotophis to construct a molecular phylogeny using Bayesian and likelihood approaches. Four divergent and well-supported clades were recovered, including: (1) grantii + brussauxi; (2) poensis + stenophthalmus; (3) nyassae; and (4) capensis, chanleri, crossi, guirali and savorgnani. Based on these results and morphological data, the genus Gonionotophis is restricted to the first clade, Mehelya is resurrected for the species in the second clade, and new genera are described for the remaining two clades. ZooBank—urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A82CFAD6-E2E0-439E-90BB-9224E225426B.
KW - clades
KW - new genera
KW - reptiles
KW - sub-Saharan Africa
KW - taxonomy
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85043686263
U2 - 10.1080/21564574.2018.1423578
DO - 10.1080/21564574.2018.1423578
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85043686263
SN - 2156-4574
VL - 67
SP - 43
EP - 60
JO - African Journal of Herpetology
JF - African Journal of Herpetology
IS - 1
ER -