Topic
Micrelaps
About: Micrelaps is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4 publications have been published within this topic receiving 79 citations.
Papers
TL;DR: Molecular data do not support the traditional placement of Micrelaps within the Atractaspidinae, but its phylogenetic position requires additional molecular data and they are both treated as Elapoidea incertae sedis.
Abstract: The Elapoidea includes the Elapidae and a large (~60 genera, 280 sp.) and mostly African (including Madagascar) radiation termed Lamprophiidae by Vidal et al. (2007), that includes at least four major groups: the psammophiines, atractaspidines, lamprophiines and pseudoxyrhophiines. In this work, we reviewed the recent taxonomic history of the lamprophiids, and built a data set including two nuclear protein-coding genes (c-mos and RAG2), two mitochondrial rRNA genes (12S and 16S rRNA) and two mitochondrial protein-coding genes (cytochrome b and ND4) for 85 species belonging to 45 genera (thus representing about 75% of the generic diversity and 30% of the specific diversity of the radiation), in order to clarify the phylogenetic relationships of this large and neglected group at the subfamilial and generic levels. To this aim, 480 new sequences were produced. The vast majority of the investigated genera fall into four main monophyletic clusters, that correspond to the four subfamilies mentioned above, although the content of atractaspidines, lamprophiines and pseudoxyrhophiines is revised. We confirm the polyphyly of the genus Stenophis, and the relegation of the genus name Dromophis to the synonymy of the genus name Psammophis. Gonionotophis brussauxi is nested within Mehelya. The genus Lamprophis Fitzinger, 1843 is paraphyletic with respect to Lycodonomorphus Fitzinger, 1843. Lamprophis swazicus is the sister-group to Hormonotus modestus, and may warrant generic recognition. Molecular data do not support the traditional placement of Micrelaps within the Atractaspidinae, but its phylogenetic position, along with that of Oxyrhabdium (previously considered to belong to the Xenodermatidae), requires additional molecular data and they are both treated as Elapoidea incertae sedis. The interrelationships of Psammophiinae, Atractaspidinae, Lamprophiinae, Pseudoxyrhophiinae, Prosymna (13 sp.), Pseudaspis (1 sp.) and Pythonodipsas (1 sp.), Buhoma (2 species), and Psammodynastes (1 sp.) remain unresolved. Finally, the genus Lycognathophis, endemic to the Seychelles, does not belong to the African radiation, but to the Natricidae.
70 citations
TL;DR: An analysis of all available material, including the types of the various species of African Micrelaps, reveals that M. boettgeri Boulenger 1896 is a junior synonym of M. vaillanti and is considered a valid species.
Abstract: An analysis of all available material, including the types of the various species of African Micrelaps, reveals that M. boettgeri Boulenger 1896 is a junior synonym of M. vaillanti (Mocquard 1888). Micrelaps bicoloratus Sternfeld 1910 from Kenya is different from sympatric M. vaillanti and is considered a valid species. Tanzanian populations of M. bicoloratus differ in colouration from the Kenyan ones and from sympatric M. vaillanti and are accordingly considered a new subspecies, M. b. moyeri.
12 citations
TL;DR: Variation in the primarily East African snake genus Micrelaps (Atractaspididae) was investigated in the southern Levant from museum specimens and some photographs, finding sexual dimorphism affects pholidosis, proportions and colour pattern.
Abstract: Variation in the primarily East African snake genus Micrelaps (Atractaspididae) was investigated in the southern Levant (mainly Israel) from museum specimens and some photographs. The fossorial M. muelleri Boettger, 1880, hitherto considered rare, inhabits the mesic Mediterranean zone (n=82). Its usual colour pattern is a variable number of black and yellow rings but two rare longitudinally striped morphs also occur. Sexual dimorphism, hitherto unknown, affects pholidosis, proportions and colour pattern. A new species, M. tchernovi Werner, is described (n=6) from the semi-arid Irano-Turanian zone in the central Jordan Valley. It differs mainly in colour characters, having black saddles rather than rings. The distinction of the two species is verified using Principal Coordinates Analysis. Their relationships with the African members of the genus are briefly discussed.
10 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that Levantine Micrelaps belongs to a single, morphologically variable, and genetically uniform species, Micrelap muelleri, of which M. tchernovi is a junior synonym.
Abstract: The enigmatic snake genus Micrelaps has uncertain phylogenetic affinities. The type species of the genus, Micrelaps muelleri, inhabits the Southern Levant. Snakes inhabiting the Jordan River Valley just south of the Sea of Galilee have been described as a new species, Micrelaps tchernovi, based on their distinct colour patterns, despite M. muelleri being well known to be variable in colour-pattern traits. Here we use morphological and molecular data to examine the taxonomic status and phylogenetic affinity of Levantine Micrelaps. We show that all scalation, colour, and pattern-related traits are extremely variable across the range of these snakes. Some morphological features show clinal variation related to temperature and precipitation, and snakes with a ‘tchernovi’ morph are merely at one end of a continuum of morphological variation. Both ‘classical muelleri’ and ‘tchernovi’ morphs occur in syntopy in the Jordan Valley and elsewhere in Israel. Against this background of high morphological variation, neutral genetic markers show almost no differentiation between snakes, no genetic structure is evident across populations, and no differences are to be found between the two putative species. We conclude that Levantine Micrelaps belongs to a single, morphologically variable, and genetically uniform species, Micrelaps muelleri, of which M. tchernovi is a junior synonym.
2 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2008 | 1 |
| 2006 | 1 |
| 2002 | 1 |