Friday 21 September 2012

Evolutionary History of Lizards and Snakes Reconstructed Using Massive Molecular Dataset

ScienceDaily (Sep. 18, 2012) — A new study, published online in Biology Letters on Sept. 19, has utilized a massive molecular dataset to reconstruct the evolutionary history of lizards and snakes. The results reveal a surprising finding about the evolution of snakes: that most snakes we see living on the surface today arose from ancestors that lived underground.

The article, entitled "Resolving the phylogeny of lizards and snakes (Squamata) with extensive sampling of genes and species," describes research led by John J. Wiens, an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. The study was based on 44 genes and 161 species of lizards and snakes, one of the largest genetic datasets assembled for reptiles.


Continued:
 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120919081834.htm

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