Investigating possible drivers of snake diversification rates using fossil occurrence data and a Bayesian framework

• Grant number: 24/22446-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 11, 2025
• End date: August 11, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Paleozoology
• Principal Investigator: Pedro Lorena Godoy
• Grantee: Gabriela Karam Gama
• Supervisor: Daniele Silvestro
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Ethz Department Of Biosystems Science And Engineering, Switzerland
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/09628-7 - Estimating through-time diversification rates in Serpentes (Lepidosauria, Squamata) from fossil occurrence data, BP.IC

Abstract

Serpentes is one of the most diverse groups of terrestrial vertebrates, with more than four thousand living species, significant morphological disparity and impressive ecological diversity. Debates surrounding relationships between snakes and other squamates, with conflicting hypotheses diverging mainly in relation to the sister group to Serpentes, and the origin of the group itself, highlight the central role of the group's fossil record to better comprehend its evolutionary history. In this context, the initial project ("bolsa no país") aimed to use data from fossil occurrences to estimate rates of speciation, extinction and diversification for the group's entire evolutionary history, shedding light on periods of greater and lesser diversification in Pan-Serpentes. Preliminary analyses recognized diversification during the Upper Cretaceous, augmented extinction rates during the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, followed by a rise in diversification and a significant positive alteration in diversification rates during the Miocene. In this sense, the present project ("BEPE scholarship") aims to further investigate diversification dynamics in the total-group, searching for variable predictors of diversification, such as continuous traits, time variables and phylogenetic relatedness. The BEPE internship will take place in Silvestro's lab (ETH Zurich), and will be crucial to provide training in bioinformatics, specifically Bayesian-based methods and macroevolutionary models, allowing the candidate to evaluate possible biotic and abiotic factors associated with the observed rate variation. The results from this unprecedented investigation will expand the knowledge on the evolution of a group of enormous scientific and popular interest, integrating paleontological data with an innovative methodology.