A single origin of extreme matrotrophy in African mabuyine skinks

作者：Metallinou Margarita; Weinell Jeffrey L; Karin Benjamin R; Conradie Werner; Wagner Philipp; Schmitz Andreas; Jackman Todd R; Bauer Aaron M

来源：Biology Letters, 2016, 12(8): 20160430.

DOI：10.1098/rsbl.2016.0430

<jats:p>
Most mammals and approximately 20% of squamates (lizards and snakes) are viviparous, whereas all crocodilians, birds and turtles are oviparous. Viviparity evolved greater than 100 times in squamates, including multiple times in Mabuyinae (Reptilia: Scincidae), making this group ideal for studying the evolution of nutritional patterns associated with viviparity. Previous studies suggest that extreme matrotrophy, the support of virtually all of embryonic development by maternal nutrients, evolved as many as three times in Mabuyinae: in Neotropical Mabuyinae (63 species),
<jats:italic>Eumecia</jats:italic>
(2 species; Africa) and
<jats:italic>Trachylepis ivensii</jats:italic>
(Africa). However, no explicit phylogenetic hypotheses exist for understanding the evolution of extreme matrotrophy. Using multilocus DNA data, we inferred a species tree for Mabuyinae that implies that
<jats:italic>T. ivensii</jats:italic>
(here assigned to the resurrected genus
<jats:italic>Lubuya</jats:italic>
) is sister to
<jats:italic>Eumecia</jats:italic>
, suggesting that extreme matrotrophy evolved only once in African mabuyine skinks.
</jats:p>

• 出版日期2016-8-1