Australia’s hidden radiation: Phylogenomics analysis reveals rapid Miocene radiation of blindsnakes

Tiatragul, Sarin; Brennan, Ian G.; Broady, Elizabeth S.; Keogh, J. Scott

doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107812

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…The current phylogeny is missing 12 described species (Tiatragul et al, 2023), such as the arid-adapted A. fossor and A. minimus, and the true diversity has been estimated to exceed 56 species (Ellis, 2019;Marin, Donnellan, Hedges, Puillandre, et al, 2013). It is possible that unrecognised species may be hidden under nominal species and that these missing lineages have diversified more recently when aridity is high.…”

Section: Aridification and Diversification Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Phylogenetic data in Tiatragul et al (2023) suggest the existence of at least three genetically distinct undescribed species, so we followed their designation and adjusted our taxon sampling fraction to 38/50 species. The genetically distinct OTUs that are not formally described species include three 'Anilios grypus' (two in Western Australia and one in Queensland) and two 'Anilios ligatus' (one from the eastern part of the range and one from the northern part; Tiatragul et al, 2023). For ancestral biome estimation analyses, we included three outgroup blindsnakes species from Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Melanesia, where the ancestor of Anilios has been hypothesised to have originated (Tiatragul et al, 2023;Vidal et al, 2010).…”

Section: Phylogenetic Hypothesis and Taxon Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Today, the arid zone covers roughly 70% of the Australian landscape and provides habitat to 43% of all of Australia's terrestrial reptiles (Byrne et al, 2008). Of these, roughly a quarter of the snake species diversity in Australia is represented by blindsnakes of the genus Anilios, which currently comprises 47 described species (Tiatragul et al, 2023;Uetz et al, 2021). All but three species of formally described Anilios are endemic to Australia, A. torresianus and A. leucoproctus also occur in southern parts of New Guinea, while A. eryncinus has only been recorded in New Guinea and the Maluku Islands.…”

Section: Subsequent Extreme Warming and Cooling Periods In The Last ~...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We used the most updated phylogeny for Anilios and closely related outgroups from Tiatragul et al (2023). The species tree was built with the shortcut coalescent method in ASTRAL III (Zhang et al, 2018) using maximum likelihood gene trees inferred in IQTREE from 4930 loci (322 Anchored Hybrid Enrichment loci, 4574 ultraconserved elements, and 34 legacy genes) for 35/47 recognised Anilios species.…”

Section: Phylogenetic Hypothesis and Taxon Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The genetically distinct OTUs that are not formally described species include three 'Anilios grypus' (two in Western Australia and one in Queensland) and two 'Anilios ligatus' (one from the eastern part of the range and one from the northern part; Tiatragul et al, 2023). For ancestral biome estimation analyses, we included three outgroup blindsnakes species from Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Melanesia, where the ancestor of Anilios has been hypothesised to have originated (Tiatragul et al, 2023;Vidal et al, 2010). The three species include Ramphotyphlops multilineatus (Western New Guinea, Kai Island, and Salawati), Sundatyphlops polygrammicus (Moyo Island, Indonesia), and Acutotyphlops subocularis (Bismarck Archipelago).…”

Section: Phylogenetic Hypothesis and Taxon Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Paleoenvironmental models for Australia and the impact of aridification on blindsnake diversification

Tiatragul

Skeels

Keogh

2023

Journal of Biogeography

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AimShifts in diversification rates of Australian flora and fauna have been associated with aridification, but the relationship between diversification rates and aridity has never been quantified. We employed multiple approaches to reconstruct paleoenvironments of Australia for the first time. We used this information, and phylogenetic‐based analyses, to explore how changes in temperature and increasing aridity during the Neogene influenced the diversification of the Australian blindsnakes. We tested whether diversification rates differ between arid‐adapted and mesic‐adapted lineages.TaxonTyphlopidae, Anilios blindsnakes.LocationAustralia.Materials and MethodsWe estimated the historical biogeography of blindsnakes using BioGeoBEARS. We synthesised multiple approaches to reconstruct paleotemperature and paleoaridity of Australia during the Neogene. We fitted several birth‐death models and estimated diversification rates under paleoenvironmental conditions using RPANDA. We further compared diversification rates between arid‐adapted lineages versus mesic‐adapted lineages using ClaDS and GeoHiSSE.ResultsAncestral area estimation indicated Australian blindsnakes have tropical grassland origins. We found that Australia‐specific regional paleotemperature and paleoaridity provided a better explanation for diversification rate variation than global paleotemperature. Specifically, our best‐fitting model indicated that speciation rates of blindsnakes decreased with increasing aridity. We found no difference in diversification rates between arid‐ and mesic‐adapted lineages.Main ConclusionsSoon after dispersing to Australia, the common ancestors of Australian blindsnakes diversified rapidly in mesic habitats during the early Miocene. However, as the continent became increasingly arid, diversification rates decreased. We found that shifts in the environment led to the emergence of two major clades: one remaining in primarily mesic habitats and the other adapting to the expanding arid biome. Our results emphasise the importance of both arid and tropical biomes as sources and sinks of diversification.

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Section: Aridification and Diversification Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Phylogenetic Hypothesis and Taxon Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Subsequent Extreme Warming and Cooling Periods In The Last ~...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Phylogenetic Hypothesis and Taxon Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Phylogenetic Hypothesis and Taxon Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Paleoenvironmental models for Australia and the impact of aridification on blindsnake diversification

Tiatragul

Skeels

Keogh

2023

Journal of Biogeography

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Gondwanan relic or recent arrival? The biogeographic origins and systematics of Australian tarantulas

Briggs,

Foley,

Cook

2025

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

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Morphological evolution and niche conservatism across a continental radiation of Australian blindsnakes

Tiatragul,

Skeels,

Keogh

2024

Evolution

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Understanding how continental radiations are assembled across space and time is a major question in macroevolutionary biology. Here, we use a phylogenomic-scale phylogeny, a comprehensive morphological dataset and environmental niche models to evaluate the relationship between trait and environment, and assess the role of geography and niche conservatism in the continental radiation of Australian blindsnakes. This fossorial snake group comprises 47 described species and is widespread across various biomes on continental Australia. Although we expected blindsnakes to be morphologically conserved, we found considerable interspecific variation in all morphological traits we measured. Absolute body length is negatively correlated with mean annual temperature and body shape ratios are negatively correlated with soil compactness. We found that morphologically similar species are likely not a result of ecological convergence. Age-overlap correlation tests revealed niche similarity decreased with relative age of speciation events. We also found low geographical overlap across the phylogeny suggesting speciation is largely allopatric with low rates of secondary range overlap. Our study offers insights into the eco-morphological evolution of blindsnakes, and the potential for phylogenetic niche conservatism to influence continental scale radiations.

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Australia’s hidden radiation: Phylogenomics analysis reveals rapid Miocene radiation of blindsnakes

Cited by 6 publications

References 71 publications

Paleoenvironmental models for Australia and the impact of aridification on blindsnake diversification

Paleoenvironmental models for Australia and the impact of aridification on blindsnake diversification

Gondwanan relic or recent arrival? The biogeographic origins and systematics of Australian tarantulas

Morphological evolution and niche conservatism across a continental radiation of Australian blindsnakes

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