Parahelicops, Pararhabdophis,Paraphyly: Phylogenetic Relationships among Certain Southeast Asian Natricine Snakes (Hebius)

Abstract

We investigate the phylogenetic relationships of two poorly known Natricinae, Parahelicops and Pararhabdophis, for which we obtained nucleotide sequence data from one mitochondrial gene (cytochrome b) and three nuclear genes (CMOS, NT3, and RAG1). Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and combined and partitioned Bayesian analyses suggest that both Parahelicops and Pararhabdophis are embedded within the genus Hebius. To align classification with phylogeny, we synonymize Parahelicops and Pararhabdophis with Hebius.

On the validity of Hebius sauteri maximus (Malnate, 1962) (Squamata, Natricidae), with the redescription of H. maximus comb. nov. and H. sauteri (Boulenger, 1909)

“…The topological structure of the phylogenetic tree (Fig. 1) was largely consistent with previous studies (Guo et al 2014;Kizirian et al 2018;Liu et al 2018;Zhou et al 2019). Although higher relationships of Hebius congeners remain not fully resolved, the phylogenetic relationships of our targeted species were strongly supported.…”

A new species of the genus Hebius (Squamata, Natricidae) from Yunnan, China

“…Based on molecular characteristics, Guo et al (2014) split the genus Amphiesma into three genera: Amphiesma ; Hebius Thompson, 1913, which accounts for most of the species; and Herpetoreas Günther, 1860. Kizirian et al (2018) found that the genera Parahelicops Bourret, 1934 and Pararhabdophis Bourret, 1934 were junior synonyms of Hebius which was also supported by Ren et al (2018) . The molecular data presented by Patel et al (2023) revealed a new genus, Sahyadriophis Patel, Thackeray, Campbell & Mirza, 2023, in which Hebius beddomei (Günther, 1864) was included.…”

“…In addition, the generic assignments of some species have also changed. For example, Hebius xenura (Wall, 1907) and Hebius pealii (Sclater, 1891) have been assigned to Herpetoreas , and Hebius monticola (Jerdon, 1853) has been assigned to Amphiesma ( Kizirian et al 2018 ; Ren et al 2018 ; Das et al 2020 ; Lalronunga et al 2020 ; Ren et al 2022 ; Patel et al 2023 ).…”

“…Currently, there are 51 valid species in the genus Hebius , of which 26 are known to occur in China ( Hauser et al 2022 ; Li et al 2022 ; Ma et al 2023 ; Xu et al 2023 ; Uetz et al 2024 ). Furthermore, recent morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses of Hebius have shown that the weak species delimitation within this genus may be due to underestimated diversity ( Guo et al 2014 ; Kizirian et al 2018 ; Liu et al 2018 ; Zhou et al 2019 ; Hou et al 2021 ).…”