Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/2440/113303
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Type: | Journal article |
Title: | Are diet preferences associated to skulls shape diversification in xenodontine snakes? |
Author: | Klaczko, J. Sherratt, E. Setz, E. |
Citation: | PLoS One, 2016; 11(2):1-12 |
Publisher: | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
Issue Date: | 2016 |
ISSN: | 1932-6203 1932-6203 |
Editor: | Evans, A. |
Statement of Responsibility: | Julia Klaczko, Emma Sherratt, Eleonore Z. F. Setz |
Abstract: | Snakes are a highly successful group of vertebrates, within great diversity in habitat, diet, and morphology. The unique adaptations for the snake skull for ingesting large prey in more primitive macrostomatan snakes have been well documented. However, subsequent diversification in snake cranial shape in relation to dietary specializations has rarely been studied (e.g. piscivory in natricine snakes). Here we examine a large clade of snakes with a broad spectrum of diet preferences to test if diet preferences are correlated to shape variation in snake skulls. Specifically, we studied the Xenodontinae snakes, a speciose clade of South American snakes, which show a broad range of diets including invertebrates, amphibians, snakes, lizards, and small mammals. We characterized the skull morphology of 19 species of xenodontine snakes using geometric morphometric techniques, and used phylogenetic comparative methods to test the association between diet and skull morphology. Using phylogenetic partial least squares analysis (PPLS) we show that skull morphology is highly associated with diet preferences in xenodontine snakes. |
Keywords: | Skull; Snakes; Phylogenetics; trophic interactions; convergent evolution; diet; phylogenetic analysis; animal phylogenetics |
Rights: | © 2016 Klaczko et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0148375 |
Published version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148375 |
Appears in Collections: | Aurora harvest 8 Zoology publications |
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hdl_113303.pdf | Published Version | 2.09 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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