Phylogeography of Jackson's Forest Lizard Adolfus jacksoni (Sauria: Lacertidae) Reveals Cryptic Diversity in the Highlands of East Africa

Greenbaum, Eli; Beer, Stephanie Dowell; Hughes, Daniel F.; Wagner, Philipp; Anderson, Christopher G.; Villanueva, Cesar O.; Malonza, Patrick K.; Kusamba, Chifundera; Muninga, Wandege M.; Aristote, Mwenebatu M.; Branch, William R.

doi:10.1655/herpmonographs-d-18-00005.1

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…The late Miocene was characterized by considerable xeric conditions, which led to the expansion of savannas globally [72–73]. Other studies on Central and East African herpetofauna, including squamates ( Adolfus , Atheris , Boaedon , Naja , Kinyongia , and Panaspis ) and frogs ( Amietia , Leptopelis , and Ptychadena ), have shown similar trends of species diversification during the late Miocene [3–5, 62, 74–78].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Evolutionary history of burrowing asps (Lamprophiidae: Atractaspidinae) with emphasis on fang evolution and prey selection

et al. 2019

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Atractaspidines are poorly studied, fossorial snakes that are found throughout Africa and western Asia, including the Middle East. We employed concatenated gene-tree analyses and divergence dating approaches to investigate evolutionary relationships and biogeographic patterns of atractaspidines with a multi-locus data set consisting of three mitochondrial ( 16S , cyt b , and ND4 ) and two nuclear genes ( c-mos and RAG1 ). We sampled 91 individuals from both atractaspidine genera ( Atractaspis and Homoroselaps ). Additionally, we used ancestral-state reconstructions to investigate fang and diet evolution within Atractaspidinae and its sister lineage (Aparallactinae). Our results indicated that current classification of atractaspidines underestimates diversity within the group. Diversification occurred predominantly between the Miocene and Pliocene. Ancestral-state reconstructions suggest that snake dentition in these taxa might be highly plastic within relatively short periods of time to facilitate adaptations to dynamic foraging and life-history strategies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Because Mt. Kenya is located east of the Kenyan Rift, a major biogeographic barrier to several species of squamates [78], and moreover, all voucher specimens of A . cf.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary history of burrowing asps (Lamprophiidae: Atractaspidinae) with emphasis on fang evolution and prey selection

et al. 2019

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“…Crotaphopeltis tornieri sensu lato has a small geographic distribution compared with C. hotamboeia and is a forest specialist that occurs in multiple Afromontane forest patches in Tanzania and northern Malawi. Therefore, the species-level divergence within this taxon is probably driven by allopatric vicariance as seen for other eastern Afromontane-associated reptile species (Greenbaum et al, 2018;Menegon et al, 2014;Tolley et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

African Herald snakes,Crotaphopeltis, show population structure for a widespread generalist but deep genetic divergence for forest specialists

Engelbrecht

Branch

Greenbaum

et al. 2020

J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res.

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The African colubrid snake genus Crotaphopeltis currently comprises six species and occurs throughout sub‐Saharan Africa. The most widespread of these, Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia, inhabits most biomes, aside from rainforest and hyper‐arid regions, and its catholic niche has presumably facilitated substantial gene flow. Despite this, the geographical range is large enough that ecological or physical barriers might exist, facilitating allopatric diversification. In contrast, most of the other species are habitat specialists with limited distributions (e.g., Crotaphopeltis tornieri) and would be expected to show strong genetic structure. We therefore examined species boundaries within Crotaphopeltis in a phylogenetic context using five markers (16S, cyt b, ND4, c‐mos, and RAG‐1) for four of the six species. Species delimitation methods included two coalescent‐based and one barcoding approach. Widespread geographical sampling of C. hotamboeia allowed examination of genetic structuring across its range. The species status of Crotaphopeltis barotseensis, C. degeni, and C. hotamboeia was confirmed, whereas the Afromontane species C. tornieri comprised two candidate species. Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia did not show cryptic speciation, although its phylogeographic structure corresponded with the spatiotemporal pattern of the African savanna. Our results show how the heterogeneous African environment could influence genetic partitioning of habitat specialist and generalist species at broad geographical scales.

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“…East Africa harbors an impressive diversity of herpetofauna, partly because of the complexity of the topographical and climatic features in the region (Spawls et al, ). The Great Rift Valley (Greenbaum et al, ; Greenbaum, Sinsch, Lehr, Valdez, & Kusamba, ; Greenbaum, Tolley, Joma, & Kusamba, ; Portillo, Greenbaum, Menegon, Kusamba, & Maximilian Dehling, ) and the Eastern Arc Mountains and associated forest‐covered mountain ranges of Tanzania have been the theater for speciation for several reptile and frog species complexes (Barej et al, ; Branch, ; Kelly et al, ; Loader et al, ; Menegon et al, ; Portillo et al, ; Spawls et al, ). Approximately 25–30 million years ago, these mountain ranges uplifted along ancient fault lines, creating densely forested refuges, which currently harbor high levels of (largely) vicariance‐driven endemism and diversity (Roberts et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A snake in the grass: Genetic structuring of the widespread African grass snake (PsammophylaxFitzinger 1843), with the description of a new genus and a new species

Keates

Conradie

Greenbaum

et al. 2019

J Zool Syst Evol Res

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Psammophylax (Fitzinger 1843) is a widespread yet poorly studied genus of African grass snakes. A genetic phylogeny of six of the seven species was estimated using multiple phylogenetic and distance‐based methods. To support the genetic analyses, we conducted morphological analyses on the body (traditional morphology) and head (geometric morphometrics) separately. Phylogenetic analyses recovered a similar topology to past studies, but with better resolution and node support. We found substantial genetic structuring within the genus, supported by significantly different head shapes between P. a. acutus and other Psammophylax. Psammophylax a. acutus was recovered as sister to its congeners, and sequence divergence values and morphometrics supported its recognition as a new genus. Increased sampling in East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia) revealed that Psammophylax multisquamis is polyphyletic, necessitating the description of a new, morphologically cryptic species from northern Tanzania. The distribution of P. multisquamis sensu stricto is likely restricted to Kenya and Ethiopia. The study has further resolved multiple aspects of Psammophylax systematics, including the taxonomic validity of two central African subspecies, P. variabilis vanoyei (Laurent 1956) and P. tritaeniatus subniger (Laurent 1956). Inclusion of specimens from the more remote parts of Africa, in future analyses, may result in the recovery of additional diversity within Psammophylax.

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Phylogeography of Jackson's Forest Lizard Adolfus jacksoni (Sauria: Lacertidae) Reveals Cryptic Diversity in the Highlands of East Africa

Cited by 5 publications

References 68 publications

Evolutionary history of burrowing asps (Lamprophiidae: Atractaspidinae) with emphasis on fang evolution and prey selection

Evolutionary history of burrowing asps (Lamprophiidae: Atractaspidinae) with emphasis on fang evolution and prey selection

African Herald snakes,Crotaphopeltis, show population structure for a widespread generalist but deep genetic divergence for forest specialists

A snake in the grass: Genetic structuring of the widespread African grass snake (PsammophylaxFitzinger 1843), with the description of a new genus and a new species

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