Posted by:
WW
at Thu Oct 2 13:33:44 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by WW ]
There is no evidence whatsoever that Leioheterodon and Heterodon are in any way closely related. Heterodon belongs to the New World subfamily Xenodontinae, whereas Leioheterodon belongs to the Malagasy subfamily Pseudoxyrhophiinae. The similar snout shape is due to convergence.
The following papers on advanced snake phylogeny should help clarify this:
Kelly, C. M. R., N. P. Barker and M. H. Villet. 2003. Phylogenetics of advanced snakes (Caenophidia) based on four mitochondrial genes. Syst. Biol., 52:439-459.
Vidal, N. and S. B. Hedges. 2002. Higher-level relationships of caenophidian snakes inferred from four nuclear and mitochondrial genes. C. R. Biologies 325:987–995.
Send me an e-mail if you want a PDF of these.
Cheers,
Wolfgang ----- WW
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