Origins and macroevolution of Booidea (Squamata, Serpentes) using phylogenetic and ancestral area reconstruction analysis

• Grant number: 17/00845-1
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): May 01, 2017
• Effective date (End): January 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Paleozoology
• Cooperation agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Annie Schmaltz Hsiou
• Grantee: Silvio Yuji Onary Alves
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/11166-3 - Integrating molecules, morphology and fossils: the evolution of booid snakes as revealed by tip-dating total-evidence phylogenetics, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

The superfamily Booidea comprises 58 species of snakes positioned in six families: (a) Boidae; (b) Calabariidae; (c) Candoiidae; (d) Charinidae; (e) Erycidae; and (f) Sanziniidae. They have a global distribution, concentrating in tropical zones. The group constitute a great model for phylogeographic investigations due to the diversity and current pattern of distribution. The current phylogenetic and biogeographical studies focuses mainly on molecular data, being the last morphological phylogenies dated from the 90's. In this sense, this project aims to propose a new phylogenetic hypothesis to Booidea, performing a reevaluation and the proposition of new morphologic characters, as well, the integration of fossils previously attributed to Booidea, however without a formal cladistic analysis. The resulting topology will be submitted to the ancestral area reconstruction analysis, using the probabilistic parametric model of the package BioGeoBEARs for R. The new phylogenetic hypothesis together with the biogeographic analysis will generate new data to the understanding of origins and macroevolution of Booidea, besides provide a complete study of the anatomy of the group. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ONARY, SILVIO; HSIOU, ANNIE S. Systematic revision of the early Miocene fossil Pseudoepicrates (Serpentes: Boidae): implications for the evolution and historical biogeography of the West Indian boid snakes (Chilabothrus). ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, v. 184, n. 2, p. 453-470, OCT 2018. Web of Science Citations: 0.

ONARY, SILVIO; RINCON, ASCANIO D.; HSIOU, ANNIE S. Fossil snakes (Squamata, Serpentes) from the tar pits of Venezuela: taxonomic, palaeoenvironmental, and palaeobiogeographical implications for the North of South America during the Cenozoic/Quaternary boundary. PeerJ, v. 6, AUG 14 2018. Web of Science Citations: 1.