Summary
The Elapoidea are a superfamily of snakes in the clade Colubroides, traditionally comprising the families Lamprophiidae and Elapidae. Advanced genomic sequence studies, however, have found lamprophiids to be paraphyletic in respect to elapids, and anywhere between four and nine families are now recognized.[5][6][7]
| Elapoidea | |
|---|---|
| |
| Indian cobra (Naja naja) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Clade: | Colubroides |
| Superfamily: | Elapoidea Boie, 1827 |
| Families | |
Taxonomy edit
In describing the subfamily Cyclocorinae, Weinell et al. (2017) suggested some or all subfamilies of Lamprophiidae should be reevaluated at full family status as a way to prevent the alternative, which is classifying them as elapids.[6] This was followed in later studies such as Zaher et al. (2019).[8] Alternatively, Das et al. (2023) classified Cyclocoridae, Elapidae, Micrelapidae, and Lamprophiidae as distinct families, with all other families being subfamilies of Lamprophiidae; however, the Reptile Database still retains these as distinct families.[9][7]
Molecular studies suggest a rapid radiation of this superfamily within the Eocene, with all families diverging from one another by the end of the epoch. Although studies have found conflicting results, Cyclocoridae is generally considered the most basal member of the superfamily.[7]
Below is the phylogeny of Elapoidea after Weinell et al. (2017), with the interrelations of Elapid after Lee et al. (2016)[4] and Figueroa et al. (2016):[5]
| Elapoidea | |
An alternative phylogeny was found by Das et al. (2023), subsuming many families into subfamilies of Lamprophiidae:[7]
| Elapoidea | |
Families and subfamilies:[8][10]
- Family: Cyclocoridae Weinell & Brown, 2017—Philippine snakes
- Family: Elapidae F. Boie, 1827—Cobras, coral snakes, mambas, taipans, sea snakes, and others
- Calliophiinae
- Micrurinae
- Najinae
- Bungarinae
- Hydrophiinae Fitzinger, 1843
- Family: Pseudaspididae Cope, 1893—mole snake, western keeled snake, and mock vipers
- Family: Prosymnidae Gray, 1849—shovel-snouted snakes
- Family: Psammophiidae Bourgeois, 1968—sand snakes and allies
- Family: Micrelapidae, Das et al., 2023—two-headed snakes[11]
- Family: Atractaspididae Günther, 1858—African burrowing asps, stiletto snakes, harlequin snakes
- Atractaspidinae Günther, 1858
- Aparallactinae Bourgeois, 1968
- Family: Pseudoxyrhophiidae Dowling, 1975—Malagasy hognose snakes, brook snakes, and allies
- Amplorhininae Meirte, 1992
- Pseudoxyrhophiinae Dowling, 1975
- Family: Lamprophiidae Fitzinger, 1843—lamprophiids
Notes edit
- ^ The elapids in the past were considered to have two subfamilies–the Elapinae made of terrestrial species and Hydrophiinae made of the marine species.[1] In 1997, Slowinski, Knight and Rooney found in their phylogenetic analysis using amino acid sequences from venom proteins, that the Australasian terrestrial species nested within the Hydrophiinae. This led to removing the Australasian terrestrial species and placing them in Hydrophiinae.[2][1] This has been supported in subsequent recent genomic analyses, though these same studies also found the subfamily Elapinae to be paraphyletic in respect to the Hydrophiinae.[3][4][5] These studies have found coral snakes, cobras and mambas, kraits, and African gartersnakes forming successive outgroups to Hydrophiinae.[4][5] Since clade names are available for these groups with the exception of the Elapsoidea, bringing back the subfamilies Calliophiinae, Micrurinae, Najinae, and Bungarinae is ideal.
References edit
- ^ a b Mattison, C. (2007). The New Encyclopedia of Snakes. Princeton University Press.
- ^ Slowinski, J. B.; Knight, A.; Rooney, A. P. (1997). "Inferring Species Trees from Gene Trees: A Phylogenetic Analysis of the Elapidae (Serpentes) Based on the Amino Acid Sequences of Venom Proteins". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 8 (3): 349–362. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.324.3013. doi:10.1006/mpev.1997.0434. PMID 9417893.
- ^ Pyron; Burbrink; Wiens (2013). "A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 13: 93. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-13-93. PMC 3682911. PMID 23627680.
- ^ a b c Lee, M. S.; Sanders, K. L.; King, B.; Palci, A. (2016). "Diversification rates and phenotypic evolution in venomous snakes (Elapidae)". Royal Society Open Science. 3 (1): 1. Bibcode:2016RSOS....350277L. doi:10.1098/rsos.150277. PMC 4736917. PMID 26909162.
- ^ a b c d Figueroa, A.; McKelvy, A. D.; Grismer, L. L.; Bell, C. D.; Lailvaux, S. P. (2016). "A species-level phylogeny of extant snakes with description of a new colubrid subfamily and genus". PLOS ONE. 11 (9): e0161070. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1161070F. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0161070. PMC 5014348. PMID 27603205.
- ^ a b Weinell, J. L.; Brown, R. M. (2017). "Discovery of an old, archipelago-wide, endemic radiation of Philippine snakes". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 119: 144–150. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2017.11.004. PMID 29162550.
- ^ a b c d Das, Sunandan; Greenbaum, Eli; Meiri, Shai; Bauer, Aaron M.; Burbrink, Frank T.; Raxworthy, Christopher J.; Weinell, Jeffrey L.; Brown, Rafe M.; Brecko, Jonathan; Pauwels, Olivier S. G.; Rabibisoa, Nirhy; Raselimanana, Achille P.; Merilä, Juha (2023-03-01). "Ultraconserved elements-based phylogenomic systematics of the snake superfamily Elapoidea, with the description of a new Afro-Asian family" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 180: 107700. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107700. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 36603697. S2CID 255467733.
- ^ a b Zaher, Hussam; Murphy, Robert W.; Arredondo, Juan Camilo; Graboski, Roberta; Machado-Filho, Paulo Roberto; Mahlow, Kristin; Montingelli, Giovanna G.; Quadros, Ana Bottallo; Orlov, Nikolai L.; Wilkinson, Mark; Zhang, Ya-Ping (2019-05-10). "Large-scale molecular phylogeny, morphology, divergence-time estimation, and the fossil record of advanced caenophidian snakes (Squamata: Serpentes)". PLOS ONE. 14 (5): e0216148. Bibcode:2019PLoSO..1416148Z. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0216148. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6512042. PMID 31075128.
- ^ "Advanced search | The Reptile Database". reptile-database.reptarium.cz. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
- ^ "Search results | The Reptile Database". reptile-database.reptarium.cz. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
- ^ Das, Sunandan; Greenbaum, Eli; Meiri, Shai; Bauer, Aaron M.; Burbrink, Frank T.; Raxworthy, Christopher J.; Weinell, Jeffrey L.; Brown, Rafe M.; Brecko, Jonathan; Pauwels, Olivier S. G.; Rabibisoa, Nirhy; Raselimanana, Achille P.; Merilä, Juha (2023-03-01). "Ultraconserved elements-based phylogenomic systematics of the snake superfamily Elapoidea, with the description of a new Afro-Asian family". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 180: 107700. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107700. hdl:10138/352742. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 36603697. S2CID 255467733.