Authors
Sara Ruane, Edward A Myers, Kahmun Lo, Sara Yuen, Rachel S Welt, Maya Juman, India Futterman, Ronald A Nussbaum, Gregory Schneider, Frank T Burbrink, Christopher J Raxworthy
Publication date
2018/4/3
Journal
Systematics and Biodiversity
Volume
16
Issue
3
Pages
229-244
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Description
Although many wide-ranging taxa occur in Madagascar, phylogeographic studies for most of these species are still lacking. This is especially the case for snakes, where of more than 100 endemic species, the population structure of only two species has so far been examined. Here, we examine genetic population structure of one of the most common snakes of Madagascar, Mimophis mahfalensis (Grandidier, 1867). This taxon is the only representative of Psammophiinae in Madagascar, where the majority of species in this subfamily is distributed throughout mainland Africa. Applying an integrative approach, where both morphological data and genetic results from coalescent species delimitation analyses are considered, we determine that Mimophis mahfalensis is composed of two distinct taxa: M. mahfalensis in the central montane and southern parts of Madagascar, and a second new species restricted to the …
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