10.5061/DRYAD.5GS6P
Palci, Alessandro
Flinders University
Hutchinson, Mark N.
South Australian Museum
Caldwell, Michael W.
University of Alberta
Scanlon, John D.
UNSW Sydney
Lee, Michael S.Y.
South Australian Museum
Lee, Michael S. Y.
South Australian Museum
Data from: Palaeoecological inferences for the fossil Australian snakes
Yurlunggur and Wonambi (Serpentes, Madtsoiidae)
Dryad
dataset
2018
madtsoiid snakes
canonical variates analysis
Serpentes
Yurlunggur
Madtsoiidae
labyrinth
Wonambi
2018-02-07T18:41:14Z
2018-02-07T18:41:14Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172012
2874067 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Madtsoiids are among the most basal snakes, with a fossil record dating
back to the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian). Most representatives went
extinct by the end of the Eocene, but some survived in Australia until the
late Cenozoic. Yurlunggur and Wonambi are two of these late forms, and
also the best-known madtsoiids to date. A better understanding of the
anatomy and palaeoecology of these taxa may shed light on the evolution
and extinction of this poorly known group of snakes and on early snake
evolution in general. A digital endocast of the inner ear of Yurlunggur
was compared to those of 81 species of snakes and lizards with known
ecological preferences using three-dimensional geometric morphometrics.
The inner ear of Yurlunggur most closely resembles both that of certain
semiaquatic snakes and that of some semifossorial snakes. Other cranial
and postcranial features of this snake support the semifossorial
interpretation. While the digital endocast of the inner ear of Wonambi is
too incomplete to be included in a geometric morphometrics study, its
preserved morphology is very different from Yurlunggur and suggests a more
generalist ecology. Osteology, palaeoclimatic data, and the
palaeobiogeographic distribution of these two snakes are all consistent
with these inferred ecological differences.
Supplementary MaterialSupplementary material S1 - Table S1: Specimen
numbers, taxonomic authorities, and institutional abbreviations.
Supplementary material S2: Landmarking procedure, replacement taxa, and
supplementary figures. Supplementary material S3: Landmark coordinates of
all taxa included in the study (.tps format). Supplementary material S4 -
Table S2: Ecology of all the taxa included in the study and literature
sources. Supplementary material S5: Scripts used to run the analyses in R.