Topic
Hydrophis
About: Hydrophis is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 85 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1428 citations.
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TL;DR: Many of the retrieved groupings are consistent with previous molecular and morphological analyses, but the polyphyly of the viviparous and burrowing groups, and of Neelaps, are novel results.
Abstract: One of the most prolific radiations of venomous snakes, the AustraloMelanesian Hydrophiinae includes 100 species of Australasian terrestrial elapids plus all 60 species of viviparous sea snakes. Here, we estimate hydrophiine relationships based on a large data set comprising 5800 bp drawn from seven genes (mitochondrial: ND4, cytb, 12S, 16S; nuclear: rag1, cmos, myh). These data were analysed using parsimony, likelihood and Bayesian methods to better resolve hydrophiine phylogeny and provide a timescale for the terrestrial and marine radiations. Among oviparous forms, Cacophis, Furina and Demansia are basal to other Australian elapids (core oxyuranines). The Melanesian Toxicocalamus and Aspidomorphus group with Demansia, indicating multiple dispersal events between New Guinea and Australia. Oxyuranus and Pseudonaja form a robust clade. The small burrowing taxa form two separate clades, one consisting of Vermicella and Neelaps calanotus, and the other including Simoselaps, Brachyurophis and Neelaps bimaculatus. The viviparous terrestrial elapids form three separate groups: Acanthophis, the Rhinoplocephalus group and the Notechis–Hemiaspis group. True sea snakes (Hydrophiini) are robustly united with the Notechis–Hemiaspis group. Many of the retrieved groupings are consistent with previous molecular and morphological analyses, but the polyphyly of the viviparous and burrowing groups, and of Neelaps, are novel results. Bayesian relaxed clock analyses indicate very recent divergences: the 160 species of the core Australian radiation (including sea snakes) arose within the last 10 Myr, with most inter-generic splits dating to between 10 and 6 Ma. The Hydrophis sea snake lineage is an exceptionally rapid radiation, with > 40 species evolving within the last 5 Myr.
153 citations
TL;DR: Analysis of 1,063 stomach contents from 39 species of sea snakes indicates that about one-third of the shallow, warm, marine, Indo-Australian fish families are preyed upon by sea snakes.
Abstract: Analysis of 1,063 stomach contents from 39 species of sea snakes indicates that about one-third of the shallow, warm, marine, Indo-Australian fish families are preyed upon by sea snakes. Families of eels and gobies are taken by the greatest numbers of snake species. Most species of sea snakes feed on fish families whose members are relatively sedentary, dwelling along the bottom, within burrows or reef crevices. With one exception, a fish egg-eating specialization found uniquely in the Aipysurus-Emydocephalus lineage, the dietary habits of sea snakes cannot be categorized according to the snakes' three phylogenetic lineages. Eels, mullet-like, rabbitfish-like and goby-like fish forms are taken by all three lineages. Two or three snake species are generalists, and numerous ones specialize on eels, goby-like fish or catfish. There are differences among sea snake species in the relationship between snake neck girth and the maximum diameter of the prey; in the relationships of both snake gape measurements and fang length, to the type of prey taken; and in the relationship of snake shape and body proportions to the prey selected. Several modes of feeding have been observed among sea snakes: feeding in nooks and crannies in the bottom or in reefs, cruising near the bottom, and feeding in drift lines. Analysis of percent digestion of stomach contents and projections backward to the times of prey capture provides evidence for feeding periodicity. The greatest amount of diet overlap is for two species of sea snakes which do not both occur at the same locality. Where species do co-occur, diet overlap index values are lower. The numbers of species present as well as their relative abundances vary among localities as does the relative importance of generalists, eel-eaters, egg-eaters and other specialized feeders.
144 citations
TL;DR: The susceptibility to fishing of the populations of 13 sea snake species caught as bycatch by trawlers in Australia’s Northern Prawn (shrimp) Fishery was examined to identify species at potential risk that should become priority for research and management.
103 citations
TL;DR: Previous taxonomic and genomic sampling for Hydrophiini is extended using three mitochondrial fragments and five nuclear loci for multiple individuals of 39 species in 15 genera, and concatenated Bayesian and likelihood analyses, and a multilocus coalescent tree recovered concordant support for primary clades and several previously unresolved inter-specific groupings.
99 citations
University of Adelaide1, University of Bristol2, University of Plymouth3, Natural History Museum4, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts5, University of Dhaka6, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation7, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine8, Macquarie University9, University of Western Australia10, Lions Eye Institute11, University of Toronto12
TL;DR: It is found that sea snakes underwent rapid adaptive diversification of their visual pigments when compared with their terrestrial and amphibious relatives, and appear to share parallel mechanisms of color vision diversification with fruit-eating primates.
81 citations