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| Author(s): |
Vivian C. Trevine
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB) |
| Defense date: | 2017-05-10 |
| Examining board members: |
Hussam El Dine Zaher;
Fábio Sarubbi Raposo do Amaral;
Felipe Franco Curcio;
Francisco Luís Franco;
Paulo Gustavo Homem Passos
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| Advisor: | Hussam El Dine Zaher |
| Abstract | |
In spite of the incoming flow of information regarding the systematics of Neotropical snakes, largely driven by the innovation of new techniques for molecular data, the evolutionary relations among members of the subfamily Xenodontinae are incipient, and the phylogenetic status of several genera and species are still unknown. The tribe Tachymenini (Dipsadidade, Xenodontinae) is composed by seven genera and 33 species widely distributed throughout South America, and characterized by a complex taxonomic history and a hidden diversity. This project aimed to study the phylogenetic relations of Tachymenini, testing the evolutionary hypotheses of relationships among its genera and species in an integrative approach, and to further validate taxonomic changes. All Tachymenini taxa were analyzed in the most comprehensive study of the tribe. Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analysis were performed using 70 morphological characters, three mitochondrial and three nuclear genes. Phylogenetic analysis recovered Tachymenini as monophyletic, and its most specious genera, Tachymenis, Thamnodynastes and Tomodon, as polyphyletic. Two new genera and four new species are proposed, three species are synonymized, and two other genera are resurrected, resulting in a new composition of 10 genera and 35 species for the tribe. Nevertheless, three cryptic species complexes were recovered, which would increase the diversity for Tachymenini in at least four other species. The combined use of morphological and molecular data was fundamental for a better understanding of the genera relationships, and for the establishment of diagnostic characters for the taxa. Other approaches, along with the improvement of morphological and molecular data deficiencies, are necessary in future studies of Tachymenini and other Xenodontinae systematics (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 12/13327-5 - Phylogeny of the tribe Tachymenini Bailey, 1967 (Serpentes, Dipsadidae, Xenodontinae) |
| Grantee: | Vivian Carlos Trevine |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |