Morphological, osteological, and genetic data support a new species of Madatyphlops (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) endemic to Mayotte Island, Comoros Archipelago
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Blind snakes (Typhlopidae) are an enigmatic group of small burrowing snakes whose anatomy, phylogenetics, and biodiversity remain poorly known. Madatyphlops comorensis (Boulenger, 1889), endemic to the Comoros Archipelago in the Western Indian Ocean, is one of many species whose phylogenetic placement and generic assignment is unclear. We used DNA barcoding, external morphological examination, and osteological data from 3D reconstruction with micro-CT to study specimens of Madatyphlops from the Comoros Archipelago. Our results support the placement of M. comorensis in Madatyphlops and the recognition of the specimens from Mayotte Island as a closely related but distinct species, which we describe as Madatyphlops eudelini sp. nov. In this context, we present the first detailed osteological descriptions of any species of Madatyphlops, which we hope will serve as groundwork for further osteological studies in this genus and contribute to our limited but growing understanding of the osteology of typhlopid snakes.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Anatomical Record |
| Volume | 304 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Pages (from-to) | 2249-2263 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| ISSN | 1932-8486 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:
We are indebted to Stéphane Augros, Johannes Berger, Boris Brückmann, Rémy Eudeline, Ludovic Montfort, and Cynthia Y. H. Wang‐Claypool for their support in the field surveys, to Athena W. Lam for help in the molecular lab, and to Michael Franzen for providing photographs of the preserved holotype. Furthermore, we thank Guillaume Decalf and the authorities at the Direction de l'Environnement, de l'Aménagement et du Logement (DEAL), Mayotte (France) for issuing research and export permits and the BOLD team for handling the barcode database entries. Finally, we thank Rebecca Laver, Juan Diego Daza, and Scott Miller for organizing this special issue and inviting us to contribute to it, and two anonymous referees for providing highly valuable comments. Funding for this study was provided by the Direction de l'environnement, de l'aménagement et du logement (DEAL), Mayotte, France: Convention 2013/308/DEAL/SEPR. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. The Anatomical Record published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Association for Anatomy.
- 3D reconstruction, blind snake, Comoros Archipelago, cranial anatomy, Mayotte, micro-CT, skull
Research areas
ID: 284286017