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A M E U RE KA ! A L M O S T $ 1 6 0 , 0 0 0 IN PRIZES AC Be part of Australia's premier national science awards - the 2002 Eureka Prizes. This year the Eureka Prizes are bigger and better than ever, with almost $160,000 in cash and prizes to be won in 16 categories. Administered by the Australian Museum, the Eureka Prizes reward outstanding achievements in Australian science and science communication, and raise the profile of science in the community. Entries close Friday 17 May 2002. Winners will be announced in August 2002 at a gala award ceremony to launch National Science Week. THE 2002 EUREKA PRIZES ARE: , ..p ..,,it, tUO Ul(U EDUCATION SCI ENCE PROMOTION • $10,000 Allen Strom Eureka Prize far Environmental • $ l 0 ,000 Industry, Science and Resources Eureka Prize Education Program for the Promotion of Science Sponsored by the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority Sponsored by the Deportment of Industry, Science and Resources • $11,000 Macquarie University Eureka Schools Prize for Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences WRITERS Sponsored by Macquarie University L..,r� ...... ,t.r�·,,..,,..,. • $ l 0 ,000 Environment Australia Peter Hunt Eureka Prize • for Environmental Journalism • $11,000 University of Sydney Eureka Schools Prize E;) for Biological Sciences Sponsored by Environment Australia �EPA Sponsored by the Faculty of Science of the University of Sydney • $ l 0,000 Industry, Science and Resources Michael Daley Eure a Prize for Science Journalism ENGINEERING Sponsored by the Deportment of Industry. Science ond Resources ROYAL .,;:::,,* 8oTANIC • $10, 000 Institution of Engineers Australia Eureka Prize • $ l 0,000 Institution of Engineers, Australia Eureka Prize � GARDENS SYDNEY for Engineering Innovation for Engineering Journalism Sponsored by the Institution of Engineers, Australia Sponsored by the Institution of Engineers, Australio THE UNIVERSITY or -.;E\\'SOUTH \\,&.L(S • $ l 0,000 Pfizer Eureko Prize for Health and Medical INDUSTRY Research Journalism • Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Industry Sponsored by Pfizer Sponsored by the Australian Museum • $ l 0,000 Reed New Holland Eureko Science Book Prize Sponsored by New Holland Publishers ... RESEARCH • $10,000 Australian Catholic University Eureka Prize Australian Skept,cs 1nc w) ominohon forms for Research in Ethics Full details of prizes on offer, as we II as en try ond n Sponsored by the Australian Catholic University ore available on the Australian Museum s website: • $10,000 www.omonline.net.ou/eureko Australian Skeptics Eureka Prize For Critical Thinking Sponsored by the Australian Skeptics Inc, For further information, please contact The Eureka Prizes ' $ l 0,000 Royol Botanic Gardens Sydney Eureka Prize Phone: 102193206224 for Biodiversity Research Fox: (02) 9320 6015 Sponsored by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney Email· rogerm@oustmus gov au • $10,000 Sherman Eureka Prize for Environmental Research Sponsored by Brion Sherman ' $ l O,OOO University of New South Wales Eureka Prize 1or Scientific Research Sponsored by A the Univers,ty of New South Wales AUSTRALIANM ,.1i11,,, ,, � MUSEUM , 11-.1'' OANrA oll Micf"OSCft' NewSclentlst \\am 1 Nature ustralia up tront SUMMER 2001-2002 Volume 27 umber 3 Published by the Australian Museum Trust 6 College Street, Sydney. NSW 20 I 0. Phone: (02) 9320 6000 Fax: (02) 9320 6073 Web: http:// www.amonline.net.au Trust President: l3rian Sherman .ve ,lw.ays had , soft spot foe wombats. l don't really know why, but l find Museum Director: Michael Archer I them interesting and they definitely have the cute, furry factor working for .\ /a11<1<�i11g Ediwr JE IFER SAUNDERS, B.SC. them. But they also represent a bit of a conundrum. Why does such a large email: jennys ausrmus.gov.au herbivore living a predominantly single ljfe choose to live in a complex Scic11r!fic Ediwr GEORGINA HICKEY, B.SC. underground burrow system, and how can a wombat, living on such a poor email: [email protected] diet, afford the energy to dig such a burrow P/1010 Edi10r KATE LOWE system? In an attempt to answer these email: [email protected] questions, a group of scientists decided to Desi 11 & Prod11aio11 WATCH THIS! DESIGN calculate whether the effort of building a .,!dvenisi11g burrow outweighed the energy saved by Phone: (02) 9320 617 S11bscrip1io11s living in one. Answering this involved some LEONORA DALTRY outhern Hairy-nosed Wombats from South Phone: (02) 9320 61 19 Toll-free (1800) 028 558 Australia, a Jot of digging and crawling about Fax: (02) 9320 6073 email: [email protected] in tunnels (and not just by the wombats), Annual subscription (4 issues) PVC piping and the use of a 'porthole' Within Australia A36.30 Other countries A45 camera. For the inside story on what they A Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat at Two-year subscription (8 issues) the entrance to its burrow. Within Australia SA69.30 Other countries A83 discovered read "Life in a Wo mbat Burrow". Three-year subscription (12 issues) Some scientists definitely like to get up close and personal with their study Within Austraha A97.90 Other countries SAi 16 Pnces mdude GST where applicable. subjects. Chris Surman, author of "ln Pursuit of the Gurge", has to wait in Proudly printed in Australia by Mock.ridge Bulmer the dark on a wind-swept atolJ for his seabirds to return to their nests with 1ew subscnpaons can be made by crecLt card on the Nature Australia toll-free hotline (1800) 028 558 or use the form 111 this their stomachs fulJ of food so that he get them to vo1Ttit. He admits it's a messy magazine. If It has been removed, send cheque, money order or credit card amhonsat,on to the address above, made payable to business, but it's worth it because his research may help save not only the the 'Australian Museum' m Australian currency. seabirds but our fishing industries as welJ. On the other hand, Ingrid Visser has All material appearmg m Nature Australia is copyright. Reproduction m par1 or whole 1s 1101 permwed tvi1lio111 wri11e11 spent eight years studying and photographing Ki!Jer Whales off the coast of aruliorisa110,i from 1he Almwg111g Ed11or. New Zealand. She can now recognise many of these whales on sight and one l\'A11JREAUSTRALIA welcomes amclcs on the:: natural and cultural heritage of the Australian Region. Opnuons expressed in particular seems to recognise her. lngrid's research may prove vital in the by the authors are their own and do not necessarily represent the policies or views of the Australian Museum conservation of Killer Whales and the oceans they inhabit. All :nudes m are peer-reviewed. l\'ATURL AUSTRALIA When it came time to select the photos to accompany Alison Downing and SATURE AUSTRALIA 1s printed on arch1val-quahty paper smtable for library coUecoons. Ron Oldfield's article on limestone mosses, Ron suggested it would be easier Published 2001 ISSN-1324-2598 if we came to him. So with lupes in hand, we set off to Macquarie University NATU!li AUSTRALIA not quite knowing what to expect. To our delight we were presented with an ,. i� proud winner of the 1987, '88, '89, amazing array of material to look through because l�on is a prolific ® '90, '91, '92, '93, '99 & 2000 Whitley Awards for Best Periodical, and the photographer with a passion for bryophytes. After sorting through hundreds of 1988 & '90Australian Heritage Awards. photos of hornworts, liverworts and mosses, we made our selection. Ron's FRONT COVER work is so good we've decided to feature some of his best in a future Photoart. An adult male Yellow-footed We also take a look at why native plants can become pests, how the ielsen Antechinus Park She-oak was saved from extinction, what lurks beneath the mosr (A 11tec/1i1111s jlavipes). Photo by C. Andrew beautiful harbour in the world, and why sex is death to male antechinuses. Henley/Larus. -J ·NNIFER SAU DER.'. NA"l URI: AUSTRALIA SUMMER 2001 2002 contents In Pursuit of the Gorge lt·s a messy business studying vomit, but you can get a lot of vital information from the stomach contents of a seabird. BY CHRISTOPHER SUR.MA 26 Kiwi Killers limestone Mosses New Zealand has the dubious honour For diversity and abundance, no other The Serpent Dreamtime of having one of the highest rates of moss flora can rival those found on Australia is notorious for its venomous Killer Whale strandings in the world. eastern Australian limestones. snakes, but 20 million years ago, things And, according to Ingrid Visser's study, BY AUSO DOWN! G were very different. Find out how it may have something to do with the & RO OLDFIELD different in the "Serpent Dreamtime". peculiar behaviour of this population 54 BY JOH SCA LO of whales. & MICHAEL LEE BY INGRID N. VISSER. 36 46 2 NA\ URI AU\ l \\,1\\ l \ \l .\\�\\·\\. 'tl(l\ ctHlc rtARE & ENl)ANCLll..ED Nielsen Park She-oak In one of the most densely populated areas of Sydney, the Nielsen Park She-oak was only ten trees away from extinction. BY CRAIG SHEPHAR.D 22 WILD TI IINGS Growing Native Weeds Tim Low gives some sound advice on the dos and don'ts of growing native plants. BY TIM LOW 24 PI-IOTOART Catching the Harbour Discover life beneath the most beautiful harbour in the world , life in a Wombat Burrow Sydney Harbour. BY AKOS LUM ITZER How do wombats on a low-ea! diet THE BACKYARD ATUR.ALIST afford co build their renowned massive Sex to Die for 70 warren complexes? For male ancechinuses sex is THE LAST WORD BY GLE HIMMI ,JAY E a double-edged sword. SKI ER & RUSSELL Native Pets: An Unnatural Disaster BY STEVE VA DYCK BAUD! ETTE ick Mooney argues against 20 usino- native animals as pets.
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  • Downloaded from the NBCI Genbank Database Emerging from Hibernation in Order to Bask, Mate, and (See Additional File 9)

    Downloaded from the NBCI Genbank Database Emerging from Hibernation in Order to Bask, Mate, and (See Additional File 9)

    Hsiang et al. BMC Evolutionary Biology (2015) 15:87 DOI 10.1186/s12862-015-0358-5 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access The origin of snakes: revealing the ecology, behavior, and evolutionary history of early snakes using genomics, phenomics, and the fossil record Allison Y Hsiang1*, Daniel J Field1,2, Timothy H Webster3, Adam DB Behlke1, Matthew B Davis1, Rachel A Racicot1 and Jacques A Gauthier1,4 Abstract Background: The highly derived morphology and astounding diversity of snakes has long inspired debate regarding the ecological and evolutionary origin of both the snake total-group (Pan-Serpentes) and crown snakes (Serpentes). Although speculation abounds on the ecology, behavior, and provenance of the earliest snakes, a rigorous, clade-wide analysis of snake origins has yet to be attempted, in part due to a dearth of adequate paleontological data on early stem snakes. Here, we present the first comprehensive analytical reconstruction of the ancestor of crown snakes and the ancestor of the snake total-group, as inferred using multiple methods of ancestral state reconstruction. We use a combined-data approach that includes new information from the fossil record on extinct crown snakes, new data on the anatomy of the stem snakes Najash rionegrina, Dinilysia patagonica,andConiophis precedens, and a deeper understanding of the distribution of phenotypic apomorphies among the major clades of fossil and Recent snakes. Additionally, we infer time-calibrated phylogenies using both new ‘tip-dating’ and traditional node-based approaches, providing new insights on temporal patterns in the early evolutionary history of snakes. Results: Comprehensive ancestral state reconstructions reveal that both the ancestor of crown snakes and the ancestor of total-group snakes were nocturnal, widely foraging, non-constricting stealth hunters.