A Quantitative Analysis of the Ancestral Area of Rattlesnakes

2004/03/01 by Aaron J. Place, Charles I. Abramson · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Scarabaeidae Beetle Taxonomy and Biogeography #Amphibian and Reptile Biology #Plant and animal studies #Biology #Vegetation (pathology) #Taxon #Biogeography #Cladistics #Crotalus #Ecology #Zoology #Phylogenetic tree

paper · doi:10.1670/103-03n

openalex publication_date 2004/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11

Abstract

Establishing the ancestral area of a taxon is a central theme of historical biogeography. We used the cladistic method of ancestral area analysis devised in 1992 by K. Bremer to determine the ancestral area of rattlesnakes (genera Crotalus and Sistrurus). We then extended this approach to determine the vegetation type of the ancestral area. The most probable ancestral area of rattlesnakes is the Madrean Occidental. The most probable vegetation of the ancestral area was pine-oak forest. Knowledge of the ancestral area and its vegetation was applied to macroevolutionary hypotheses regarding the evolution of the rattlesnake rattle.

Citations

• Phylogenetic Relationships and Ancestral Areas of the Bustards (Gruiformes: Otididae), Inferred from Mitochondrial DNA and Nuclear Intron Sequences
• HISTORICAL BIOGEOGRAPHY: Introduction to Methods
• Molecular Systematics and Biogeographical History of Pitvipers as Determined by Mitochondrial Ribosomal DNA Sequences

Cited by

• Great American Interchange [wikipedia]
• Rattlesnake [wikipedia]