Meeting Abstract

P2-27  Sunday, Jan. 5  Insights into the Evolutionary History of Lamprophiid Snakes from Vertebral Morphology Using Computed Tomography TUNNELL WILSON, W/T*; JACKSON, K; JACOBS, J/L; SEKITS, N; SMITH, E/N; Whitman College; Whitman College; University of Texas at Arlington; Whitman College; University of Texas at Arlington tunnelwt@whitman.edu

Understanding snake vertebrae is essential to understanding snake evolution. Molecular techniques can provide divergence times and relationships between lineages, but further understanding of the extinct ancestors of living snakes comes from the fossil record. The fossil record of snakes consists primarily of vertebrae. Examining the vertebral morphology of living snakes in an evolutionary context has the potential to illuminate how similar transformations occurred in the fossil history of snakes. Africa has been less studied than other continents, both in terms of snake paleontology and the study of extant snakes. The Lamprophiidae is a large and diverse family of primarily African snakes whose phylogenetic relationships have only relatively recently started to be resolved through molecular phylogenetics. We examined vertebrae from 24 species representing ten main lineages within Lamprophiidae along with four elapid species for comparison. We used micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) scanning to non-destructively extract vertebrae for morphological study. We then described all vertebrae using a synthesis of characters used by snake paleontologists to provide insight into these previously undescribed or under described taxa. We present our findings in the context of recent molecular insights into the phylogenetic relationships among lamprophiid snakes.