Phylogenomic analyses of more than 4000 nuclear loci resolve the origin of snakes among lizard families.

ABSTRACT: Squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes) are the most diverse group of terrestrial vertebrates, with more than 10 000 species. Despite considerable effort to resolve relationships among major squamates clades, some branches have remained difficult. Among the most vexing has been the placement of snakes among lizard families, with most studies yielding only weak support for the position of snakes. Furthermore, the placement of iguanian lizards has remained controversial. Here we used targeted sequence capture to obtain data from 4178 nuclear loci from ultraconserved elements from 32 squamate taxa (and five outgroups) including representatives of all major squamate groups. Using both concatenated and species-tree methods, we recover strong support for a sister relationship between iguanian and

SUBMITTER: Streicher JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5627172 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature