Bill
08-19-2004, 11:01 AM
Posted for Joeseph Collins of CNAH:
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
19 August 2004
RACERS OF THE GENUS COLUBER RESTRICTED TO NEW WORLD
Z. T. Nagy, Robin Lawson, U. Joger and M. Wink recently (2004) published a paper
entitled "Molecular systematics of Racers, Whipsnakes and relatives (Reptilia:
Colubridae) using Mitochondrial and Nuclear Markers," in the Journal of Zoological
Systematics and Evolutionary Research (Volume 42 pages 223-233).
Their taxonomic recommendations with implications for this North American
serpent (taken directly from the published paper) are:
"We recommend restricting the usage of the name Coluber to the New World
taxa currently contained within that genus. Whether the closely related
Masticophis should also be included in Coluber, thus reducing the name
Masticophis to a synonym of Coluber, cannot be decided on the basis of our
current data."
A gratis downloadable pdf of the paper by Nagy et al. is available from the CNAH
PDF Library on the CNAH web site home page.
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
19 August 2004
RACERS OF THE GENUS COLUBER RESTRICTED TO NEW WORLD
Z. T. Nagy, Robin Lawson, U. Joger and M. Wink recently (2004) published a paper
entitled "Molecular systematics of Racers, Whipsnakes and relatives (Reptilia:
Colubridae) using Mitochondrial and Nuclear Markers," in the Journal of Zoological
Systematics and Evolutionary Research (Volume 42 pages 223-233).
Their taxonomic recommendations with implications for this North American
serpent (taken directly from the published paper) are:
"We recommend restricting the usage of the name Coluber to the New World
taxa currently contained within that genus. Whether the closely related
Masticophis should also be included in Coluber, thus reducing the name
Masticophis to a synonym of Coluber, cannot be decided on the basis of our
current data."
A gratis downloadable pdf of the paper by Nagy et al. is available from the CNAH
PDF Library on the CNAH web site home page.