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Trophic specialization drives morphological evolution in sea snakes.

Emma Sherratt¹, Arne R Rasmussen², Kate L Sanders¹

¹School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.

Royal Society Open Science

|April 17, 2018

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Sea snakes rapidly speciate, driven by diet. Specializing on burrowing eels leads to a distinct body shape and faster evolution, unlike gobies specialists.

Keywords:

convergence ecomorphology evolutionary rates phenotypic evolution tempo and mode

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Area of Science:

Marine Biology
Evolutionary Biology
Herpetology

Background:

Viviparous sea snakes exhibit rapid speciation, but ecological drivers remain unclear.
Understanding morphological diversification is key to explaining their evolutionary success.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate the influence of dietary specialization on sea snake morphology.
Examine correlations between diet, body shape, and evolutionary rates.

Main Methods:

Reconstructed dated phylogenetic trees for 75% of sea snake species.
Quantified body shape (forebody vs. hindbody girth) and maximum body length.
Assessed trophic diversity and prey proportions in diets.

Main Results:

Sea snake body shape and size correlate with the proportion of burrowing prey in their diet.
Specialist eel predators convergently evolved a 'microcephalic' morphotype with reduced forebody girth.
Eel specialists show faster rates of size and shape evolution than other sea snakes.

Conclusions:

Trophic specialization on burrowing eels drives rapid, predictable morphological changes in sea snakes.
Morphological evolution is linked to selective pressures from specific burrowing prey.
Further research needed on genetic/developmental mechanisms and speciation role.