Ecological correlates of cranial evolution in the megaradiation of dipsadine snakes

BMC Ecology and Evolution

Research

Michael C. Grundler¹  Daniel L. Rabosky¹  Gregory G. Pandelis² 

[1] Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 48109, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA;Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 48109, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA;Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 48109, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA;Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 48109, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA;Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center, Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, 76019, Arlington, Texas, USA;

关键词: Dipsadinae;    Adaptive radiation;    Ecomorphology;    Geometric morphometrics;    Skull morphology;    Morphological diversification;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12862-023-02157-3

 received in 2023-01-31, accepted in 2023-08-22,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDipsadine snakes represent one of the most spectacular vertebrate radiations that have occurred in any continental setting, with over 800 species in South and Central America. Their species richness is paralleled by stunning ecological diversity, ranging from arboreal snail-eating and aquatic eel-eating specialists to terrestrial generalists. Despite the ecological importance of this clade, little is known about the extent to which ecological specialization shapes broader patterns of phenotypic diversity within the group. Here, we test how habitat use and diet have influenced morphological diversification in skull shape across 160 dipsadine species using micro-CT and 3-D geometric morphometrics, and we use a phylogenetic comparative approach to test the contributions of habitat use and diet composition to variation in skull shape among species.ResultsWe demonstrate that while both habitat use and diet are significant predictors of shape in many regions of the skull, habitat use significantly predicts shape in a greater number of skull regions when compared to diet. We also find that across ecological groupings, fossorial and aquatic behaviors result in the strongest deviations in morphospace for several skull regions. We use simulations to address the robustness of our results and describe statistical anomalies that can arise from the application of phylogenetic generalized least squares to complex shape data.ConclusionsBoth habitat and dietary ecology are significantly correlated with skull shape in dipsadines; the strongest relationships involved skull shape in snakes with aquatic and fossorial lifestyles. This association between skull morphology and multiple ecological axes is consistent with a classic model of adaptive radiation and suggests that ecological factors were an important component in driving morphological diversification in the dipsadine megaradiation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

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