Parallel selective pressures drive convergent diversification of phenotypes in pythons and boas

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Parallel selective pressures drive convergent diversification of phenotypes in pythons and boas

Authors

Damien Esquerré, J. Scott Keogh

Journal

Ecology Letters

Publication Year

2016

Pages

10

Abstract

AbstractPythons and boas are globally distributed and distantly related radiations with remarkable phenotypic and ecological diversity. We tested whether pythons, boas and their relatives have evolved convergent phenotypes when they display similar ecology. We collected geometric morphometric data on head shape for 1073 specimens representing over 80% of species. We show that these two groups display strong and widespread convergence when they occupy equivalent ecological niches and that the history of phenotypic evolution strongly matches the history of ecological diversification, suggesting that both processes are strongly coupled. These results are consistent with replicated adaptive radiation in both groups. We argue that strong selective pressures related to habitat‐use have driven this convergence. Pythons and boas provide a new model system for the study of macro‐evolutionary patterns of morphological and ecological evolution and they do so at a deeper level of divergence and global scale than any well‐established adaptive radiation model systems.

Keywords

Aspidites ramsayi Morelia viridis Simalia Antaresia Liasis Lichanura Aspidites

Categories

Academic

Regions

Australia

Taxa

Liasis Morelia Simalia

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Parallel selective pressures drive convergent diversification of phenotypes in pythons and boas