Guo Peng, Liu Qin, Zhu Fei, Zhong Guang H, Chen Xin, Myers Edward A, Che Jing, Zhang Liang, Ziegler Thomas, Nguyen Truong Q, Burbrink Frank T
College of Life Sciences and Food Engineering, Yibin University, Yibin, 644007, China.
Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA.
Mol Ecol. 2016 Jun;25(12):2920-36. doi: 10.1111/mec.13658. Epub 2016 May 21.
Viridovipera stejnegeri is one of the most common pit vipers in Asia, with a wide distribution in southern China and Vietnam. We investigated historical demography and explored how the environment and climatic factors have shaped genetic diversity and the evolutionary history of this venomous snake. A total of 171 samples from 47 localities were sequenced and analysed for two mitochondrial gene fragments and three nuclear genes. Gene trees reveal the existence of two well-supported clades (Southwest China and Southeast China) with seven distinct and strongly supported, geographically structured subclades within V. stejnegeri. Estimation of divergence time and ancestral area suggests that V. stejnegeri originated at ~6.0 Ma in the late Miocene on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. The estimated date of origin and divergence of the island populations of Taiwan and Hainan closely matches the geological origin of the both islands. The mtDNA gene tree reveals the presence of west-east diversification in V. stejnegeri populations. Complex orogenesis and heterogeneous habitats, as well as climate-mediated habitat differentiation including glacial cycles, all have influenced population structure and the distribution of this taxon. The validity of V. stejnegeri chenbihuii is questionable, and this subspecies most probably represents an invalid taxon.
竹叶青是亚洲最常见的蝰蛇之一，在中国南方和越南分布广泛。我们研究了其历史种群动态，并探讨了环境和气候因素如何塑造了这种毒蛇的遗传多样性和进化历史。对来自47个地点的171个样本进行了测序，并分析了两个线粒体基因片段和三个核基因。基因树显示存在两个得到充分支持的分支（中国西南和中国东南），在竹叶青中有七个不同的、得到强烈支持的、具有地理结构的亚分支。分歧时间和祖先区域的估计表明，竹叶青起源于中新世晚期约600万年前的云贵高原。台湾和海南岛屿种群的估计起源和分歧日期与这两个岛屿的地质起源密切匹配。线粒体DNA基因树揭示了竹叶青种群中存在东西向的分化。复杂的造山运动和异质栖息地，以及包括冰川周期在内的气候介导的栖息地分化，都影响了该分类单元的种群结构和分布。竹叶青陈氏亚种的有效性值得怀疑，这个亚种很可能代表一个无效分类单元。
