Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Title Phylogenetic relationships among amphisbaenian reptiles based on complete mitochondrial genomic sequences Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/26017154 Authors Macey, J. Robert Papenfuss, Theodore J. Kuehl, Jennifer V. et al. Publication Date 2004-05-19 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Phylogenetic Relationships Among Amphisbaenian Reptiles Based on Complete Mitochondrial Genomic Sequences J. Robert Macey1,2, Theodore J. Papenfuss2, Jennifer V. Kuehl1, H. Mathew Fourcade1, and Jeffrey L. Boore1,3 1 Department of Evolutionary Genomics, DOE Joint Genome Institute and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94598 2 Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 3 Department of Integrative Biology, 3060 Valley Life Science Building, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 Correspondence to: J. Robert Macey, Department of Evolutionary Genomics, DOE Joint Genome Institute and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94598-1631; Phone: 925-296-5621; FAX: 925-296-5666; e-mail:
[email protected] Complete mitochondrial genomic sequences are reported from 12 members in the four families of the reptile group Amphisbaenia. Analysis of 11,946 aligned nucleotide positions (5,797 informative) produces a robust phylogenetic hypothesis. The family Rhineuridae is basal and Bipedidae is the sister taxon to the Amphisbaenidae plus Trogonophidae. Amphisbaenian reptiles are surprisingly old, predating the breakup of Pangaea 200 million years before present, because successive basal taxa (Rhineuridae and Bipedidae) are situated in tectonic regions of Laurasia and nested taxa (Amphisbaenidae and Trogonophidae) are found in Gondwanan regions.