Topic
Laticauda
About: Laticauda is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 80 publications have been published within this topic receiving 2067 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
TL;DR: An African, Asian, or Afro-Asian origin for elapids as a group, with independent Asian origins for American coral snakes and the hydrophiines is suggested.
Abstract: Evolutionary relationships among the major elapid clades, particularly the taxonomic position of the partially aquatic sea kraits (Laticauda) and the fully aquatic true sea snakes have been the subject of much debate. To discriminate among existing phylogenetic and biogeographic hypotheses, portions of both the 16S rRNA and cytochrome b mitochondrial DNA genes were sequenced from 16 genera and 17 species representing all major elapid snake clades from throughout the world and two non-elapid outgroups. This sequence data yielded 181 informative sites under parsimony. Parsimony analyses of the separate data sets produced trees of broad agreement although less well supported than the single most parsimonious tree resulting from the combined analyses. These results support the following hypotheses: (1) the Afro-Asian cobra radiation forms one or more sister groups to other elapids, (2) American and Asian coral snakes form a clade, corroborating morphological studies, (3) Bungarus forms a sister group to the hydrophiines comprised of Laticauda, terrestrial AustraloPapuan elapids and true sea snakes, (4) Laticauda and true sea snakes do not form a monophyletic group but instead each group shares an independent history with terrestrial Australo-Papuan elapids, corroborating previous studies, (5) a lineage of Melanesian elapids forms the sister group to Laticauda, terrestrial Australian species and true sea snakes. In agreement with previous morphologically based studies, the sequence data suggests that Bungarus and Laticauda represent transitional clades between the elapine ‘palatine erectors’ and hydrophiine ‘palatine draggers’. Both intra and inter-clade genetic distances are considerable, implying that each of the major radiations have had long independent histories. I suggest an African, Asian, or Afro-Asian origin for elapids as a group, with independent Asian origins for American coral snakes and the hydrophiines.
149 citations
TL;DR: To estimate ancestral states for locomotor performance, speeds of three species of Australian terrestrial elapids that spend part of their time foraging in water were measured to investigate two topics: to what degree have adaptations to increase swimming speed reduced terrestrial locomotor ability in sea kraits; and do a sea krait’s sex and body size influence its locom motor ability in these two habitats.
Abstract: Yellow-lipped sea kraits (Laticauda colubrina) are amphibious in their habits. We measured their locomotor speeds in water and on land to investigate two topics: (1) to what degree have adaptations to increase swimming speed (paddle-like tail etc.) reduced terrestrial locomotor ability in sea kraits?; and (2) do a sea krait’s sex and body size influence its locomotor ability in these two habitats, as might be expected from the fact that different age and sex classes of sea kraits use the marine and terrestrial environments in different ways? To estimate ancestral states for locomotor performance, we measured speeds of three species of Australian terrestrial elapids that spend part of their time foraging in water. The evolutionary modifications of Laticauda for marine life have enhanced their swimming speeds by about 60%, but decreased their terrestrial locomotor speed by about 80%. Larger snakes moved faster than smaller individuals in absolute terms but were slower in terms of body lengths travelled per second, especially on land. Male sea kraits were faster than females (independent of the body-size effect), especially on land. Prey items in the gut reduced locomotor speeds both on land and in water. Proteroglyphous snakes may offer exceptional opportunities to study phylogenetic shifts in locomotor ability, because (1) they display multiple independent evolutionary shifts from terrestrial to aquatic habits, and (2) one proteroglyph lineage (the laticaudids) displays considerable intraspecific and interspecific diversity in terms of the degree to which they use terrestrial vs. aquatic habitats.
101 citations
TL;DR: Study of two sibling species of amphibious sea snakes on the island of Efate shows that the separation between these two taxa is maintained by species‐specific cues that control male courtship, and suggests the possibility of sympatric speciation.
Abstract: Mechanisms that maintain species isolation within sympatric congeners have attracted analysis in many kinds of organisms, but not in snakes. We studied two sibling species of amphibious sea snakes (Laticauda colubrina and L. frontalis) on the island of Efate, in the Pacific Ocean republic of Vanuatu. The two taxa are almost identical morphologically, except that L. colubrina grows much larger than L. frontalis. No natural hybrids have been reported, and geographic distributions of the two taxa suggest the possibility of sympatric speciation. Our fieldwork shows that the two taxa are often syntopic and overlap in breeding seasons. Behavioral studies in outdoor arenas show that the separation between these two taxa is maintained by species-specific cues that control male courtship. Males of both species courted conspecific females but not heterospecific females. The proximate mechanism driving this separation involves chemical cues. Adult females of both taxa possess distinctive lipids in the skin. Males directed courtship behavior (chin-pressing) to hexane-extracted samples of lipids from conspecific but not heterospecific females. Males of the dwarf species (L. frontalis) were more selective courters than were those of the larger taxon (L. colubrina), perhaps because a preference for courting larger females means that L. colubrina males would be unlikely to court L. frontalis-sized (i.e., small) females even in the absence of pheromonal barriers.
93 citations
TL;DR: It is reported that three species of sea snake actually dehydrate in marine environments, and it is shown that Laticauda spp.
Abstract: Dehydration and procurement of water are key problems for vertebrates that have secondarily invaded marine environments. Sea snakes and other marine reptiles are thought to remain in water balance without consuming freshwater, owing to the ability of extrarenal salt glands to excrete excess salts obtained either from prey or from drinking seawater directly. Contrary to this long‐standing dogma, we report that three species of sea snake actually dehydrate in marine environments. We investigated dehydration and drinking behaviors in three species of amphibious sea kraits (Laticauda spp.) representing a range of habits from semiterrestrial to very highly marine. Snakes that we dehydrated either in air or in seawater refused to drink seawater but drank freshwater or very dilute brackish water (10%–30% seawater) to remain in water balance. We further show that Laticauda spp. can dehydrate severely in the wild and are far more abundant at sites where there are sources of freshwater. A more global exami...
75 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 5 |
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2017 | 4 |
| 2016 | 3 |