Project description:Already too late? Massive trade in Indian star tortoises (Geochelone elegans) might have wiped out its phylogeographic differentiation
Project description:Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii) (RV), a category I medically important snake as well as a member of the “Big Four”, is responsible for a heavy toll of snake bite mortality and morbidity in Indian sub-continent. Epidemiological studies suggest highest incidence of RV envenomation in eastern India (EI). In this study the RV venom proteomes from Burdwan and Nadia, the two districts of West Bengal, eastern India was deciphered for the first time using tandem mass spectrometry analysis.
Project description:The living tree sloths Choloepus and Bradypus are the only remaining members of Folivora, a major xenarthran radiation that occupied a wide range of habitats in many parts of the western hemisphere during the Cenozoic, including both continents and the West Indies (Antilles). To date, molecular evidence has played only a minor role in folivoran systematics, as most recently-extinct species lived in places not conducive to DNA preservation. Here we utilize collagen sequence information to assess the relationships of tree sloths to a large sample (13 species) of extinct Quaternary folivorans.
