A long-lost relic from the Eastern Ghats: Morphology, distribution and habitat of &lt;i&gt;Sepsophis punctatus&lt;/i&gt; Beddome, 1870 (Squamata: Scincidae)

Aim Indian biodiversity is concentrated in the wet zone, which is disjunctly distributed in the north-east and in the peninsular Western and Eastern Ghats. The Eastern Ghats region is smaller and less well explored biologically and the affinities and origins of its biota poorly understood. Our aim was to assess whether divergence between east and west lineages might have been caused by fragmentation of the wet zone during Pleistocene climatic fluctuations, by Late Miocene wet-zone contraction or by more ancient events. We present the first dated phylogenetic test of these alternatives by inferring relationships and dating divergences within a wet-zone-restricted lineage endemic to the Eastern and Western Ghats.Location The Eastern and Western Ghats regions of peninsular India.Methods Molecular genetic data (one nuclear and four mitochondrial genes) were newly generated for the only known Eastern Ghats teresomatan caecilian amphibian (Gegeneophis orientalis) and the only Western Ghats congener (G. pareshi) for which molecular data were not previously available. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred for Indian indotyphlids using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. Divergence times within the inferred phylogeny were estimated using a Bayesian relaxed clock method, with the Seychelles versus Indian indotyphlid divergence calibrated based on the geological separation of their respective continental land masses. ResultsThe single Eastern Ghats species of Gegeneophis is sister to all other (Western Ghats) Gegeneophis. The basalmost (and east-west) split within Gegeneophis likely occurred > 35 Ma. Main conclusions Divergence between Eastern and Western GhatsGegeneophis is too ancient to have been caused by wet-zone contraction in the Miocene or by Pleistocene climatic fluctuations. Our results are consistent with a relatively ancient origin of wet-zone lineages in the Eastern Ghats and a lack of gene flow between Eastern and Western Ghats Gegeneophis for tens of millions of years.

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Systematics and phylogeny of Sitana (Reptilia: Agamidae) of Peninsular India, with the description of one new genus and five new species

Deepak

Giri

Asif

et al. 2016

Contrib. Zool.

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We revise the taxonomy of the agamid genus Sitana Cuvier, 1829, a widely distributed terrestrial lizard from the Indian subcontinent based on detailed comparative analyses of external morphology, osteology and molecular data. We sampled 81 locations spread over 160,000 km2 in Peninsular India including type localities, which represented two known and five previously undescribed species. Based on general similarity in body shape and dewlap all species were hitherto identified as members of the genus Sitana. However, Sitana deccanensis and two other morphotypes, which are endemic to north Karnataka and Maharashtra in Peninsular India, are very distinct from the rest of the known members of the genus Sitana based on their external morphology and osteology. Moreover, members of this distinct morphological group were monophyletic in the molecular tree, and this clade (clade 1) was sister to two well-supported clades (2 and 3) constituting the rest of the Sitana . The interclade genetic divergence in mtDNA between clade 1 and clades 2 and 3 was 21-23%, whereas clade 2 and clade 3 exhibited 14- 16% genetic divergence. Thus, we designate a new genus name “Sarada ” gen. nov. for species represented in Clade 1, which also includes the recently resurrected Sitana deccanensis . We describe two new species in Sarada gen. nov. and three new species in Sitana . Similarity in the dewlap of Sitana and Sarada gen. nov. is attributed to similar function (sexual signaling) and similarity in body shape is attributed to a similar terrestrial life style and/or common ancestry.

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A long-lost relic from the Eastern Ghats: Morphology, distribution and habitat of <i>Sepsophis punctatus</i> Beddome, 1870 (Squamata: Scincidae)

Cited by 5 publications

References 3 publications

The hills are alive with geckos! A radiation of a dozen species on sky islands across peninsular India (Squamata: Gekkonidae, Hemiphyllodactylus) with the description of three new species

The hills are alive with geckos! A radiation of a dozen species on sky islands across peninsular India (Squamata: Gekkonidae, Hemiphyllodactylus) with the description of three new species

The role of wet‐zone fragmentation in shaping biodiversity patterns in peninsular India: insights from the caecilian amphibianGegeneophis

Systematics and phylogeny of Sitana (Reptilia: Agamidae) of Peninsular India, with the description of one new genus and five new species

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