TY - JOUR
T1 - Uncoupling ecological innovation and speciation in sea snakes (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae, Hydrophiini)
AU - Sanders, Kate Laura
AU - Mumpuni, null
AU - Lee, Michael S.Y.
PY - 2010/12
Y1 - 2010/12
N2 - The viviparous sea snakes (Hydrophiini) are by far the most successful living marine reptiles, with ~60 species that comprise a prominent component of shallow-water marine ecosystems throughout the Indo-West Pacific. Phylogenetically nested within the ~100 species of terrestrial Australo-Melanesian elapids (Hydrophiinae), molecular timescales suggest that the Hydrophiini are also very young, perhaps only ~8-13 Myr old. Here, we use likelihood-based analyses of combined phylogenetic and taxonomic data for Hydrophiinae to show that the initial invasion of marine habitats was not accompanied by elevated diversification rates. Rather, a dramatic three to six-fold increase in diversification rates occurred at least 3-5 Myr after this transition, in a single nested clade: the Hydrophis group accounts for ~80% of species richness in Hydrophiini and ~35% of species richness in (terrestrial and marine) Hydrophiinae. Furthermore, other co-distributed lineages of viviparous sea snakes (and marine Laticauda, Acrochordus and homalopsid snakes) are not especially species rich. Invasion of the oceans has not (by itself) accelerated diversification in Hydrophiini; novelties characterizing the Hydrophis group alone must have contributed to its evolutionary and ecological success.
AB - The viviparous sea snakes (Hydrophiini) are by far the most successful living marine reptiles, with ~60 species that comprise a prominent component of shallow-water marine ecosystems throughout the Indo-West Pacific. Phylogenetically nested within the ~100 species of terrestrial Australo-Melanesian elapids (Hydrophiinae), molecular timescales suggest that the Hydrophiini are also very young, perhaps only ~8-13 Myr old. Here, we use likelihood-based analyses of combined phylogenetic and taxonomic data for Hydrophiinae to show that the initial invasion of marine habitats was not accompanied by elevated diversification rates. Rather, a dramatic three to six-fold increase in diversification rates occurred at least 3-5 Myr after this transition, in a single nested clade: the Hydrophis group accounts for ~80% of species richness in Hydrophiini and ~35% of species richness in (terrestrial and marine) Hydrophiinae. Furthermore, other co-distributed lineages of viviparous sea snakes (and marine Laticauda, Acrochordus and homalopsid snakes) are not especially species rich. Invasion of the oceans has not (by itself) accelerated diversification in Hydrophiini; novelties characterizing the Hydrophis group alone must have contributed to its evolutionary and ecological success.
KW - Diversification rate
KW - Hydrophiini
KW - Phylogenetic analysis
KW - Sea snakes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78449238676&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02131.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02131.x
M3 - Article
VL - 23
SP - 2685
EP - 2693
JO - Journal of Evolutionary Biology
JF - Journal of Evolutionary Biology
SN - 1010-061X
IS - 12
ER -