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| Erythrolamprus reginae. JCM |
Using eight mitochondrial and nuclear genes Gazziotin
et al. present a phylogenetic analysis of the New World snake family Dipsadidae that included 246 terminal taxa and 196 dipsadids. Two previously un-sampled dipsadid genera,
Sordellina and
Rhachidelus, were included in the analysis. The definitions of the genera,
Erythrolamprus,
Clelia,
Hypsirhynchus,
Philodryas and
Phimophis, and the tribes Alsophiini, Echinantherini and Conophiini, were revised. In order to maintain monophyly, the genus
Umbrivaga was synonymized with
Erythrolamprus, and two new genera were erected to accommodate
Phimophis iglesiasi and
Clelia rustica, as well as closely related species. The West Indian genera
Schwartzophis, Darlingtonia,
Antillophis and
Ocyophis were also resurrected.
This study impacts the Trinidad & Tobago fauna by moving all of the members of the genus
Liophis to the genus
Erythrolamprus. Thus, Trinidad & Tobago now have seven species in the genus
Erythrolamprus,
E. aescapulii,
E. bizona,
E. cobella,
E. melanotus,
E. ocellatus,
E. reginae, and
E. sp from Tobago.
Citation
Grazziotin, F. G., Zaher, H., Murphy, R. W., Scrocchi, G., Benavides, M. A., Zhang, Y.-P. and Bonatto, S. L. (2012), Molecular phylogeny of the New World Dipsadidae (Serpentes: Colubroidea): a reappraisal.
Cladistics, 28: 437–459.
