New range and habitat records for threatened Australian sea snakes raise challenges for conservation

Congruent phylogeographic patterns in a young radiation of live‐bearing marine snakes: Pleistocene vicariance and the conservation implications of cryptic genetic diversity

“…However, the A. pooleorum samples used in Sanders et al. () were subsequently identified as A. foliosquama (D'anastasi et al., ), and the sister species relationship between A. apraefrontalis and A. foliosquama is consistent with shared morphological characteristics unique to the two WA endemics [e.g., ventral scales with a deep median notch on posterior surface (Cogger, ; Voris, )].…”

“…As such, targeted research addressing knowledge gaps about habitat and diet requirements, reproductive biology, disease susceptibility and the impacts of anthropogenic processes on sea snakes is crucial, particularly in coastal WA, where threatened sea snake species occur across a wide range of latitudes in diverse habitats with different impact regimes. For example, the small‐range endemics A. foliosquama and A. pooleorum occur in Shark Bay's extensive seagrass meadows (D'anastasi et al., ), which experienced catastrophic diebacks following a prolonged thermal anomaly in 2010/2011 (Thomson et al., ). This anomaly also caused widespread coral mortality from bleaching spanning 12° of latitude along the WAC (Moore et al., ), severe impacting Exmouth Gulf (Depczynski et al., ) where the new records for A. apraefrontalis occurred (D'anastasi et al., ; Sanders et al., ).…”

“…() and D'anastasi et al. (). Microsatellite loci were genotyped using the primers and protocols described in Lukoschek and Avise ().…”

“…Similar unexplained declines and/or local extinctions have been documented on protected reefs for A. laevis and E. annulatus in the southern GBR (Lukoschek, Heatwole, et al., ) and E. annulatus in New Caledonia (Goiran & Shine, ). More recently A. apraefrontalis and A. foliosquama were recorded in coastal WA (Exmouth and Shark Bay), from where they were previously unknown (D'anastasi, van Herwerden, Hobbs, Simpfendorfer, & Lukoschek, ; Sanders, Schroeder, Guinea, & Rasmussen, ), possibly reflecting recent range extensions. However, genetic and morphological differences between the WAC and TS (Sanders et al., ) suggest that established populations in coastal WA have, until recently, been misidentified or overlooked, with various implications for conservation (Bickford et al., ).…”

“…The aims of this study were to investigate whether co‐occurring sea snake species in the Aipysurus group demonstrate congruent intraspecific genetic patterns; explore whether phylogeographic patterns reflect known vicariant events; and evaluate the conservation implications for geographically structured patterns of genetic divergence and diversity. I combined coalescent analyses and Bayesian dating for two mitochondrial fragments with Bayesian and population genetic analyses of 11 microsatellite loci for ~550 snakes representing all nine Aipysurus group species to provide the most comprehensive evaluation of the evolutionary relationships among and within this group to date (D'anastasi et al., ; Lukoschek & Keogh, ; Sanders et al., ). Results are discussed in the context of the effect Pleistocene sea level fluctuations on Australia's shallow water marine habitats and the taxonomic and conservation implications for the Aipysurus group, particularly the potential for populations to be replenished by dispersal from other locales over time frames relevant to conservation.…”