2023/09/09 by Erin P Westeen, Erin P. Westeen, Merly Escalona +10 · 2 voices · 5 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · Immunology and Microbiology · #Amphibian and Reptile Biology #Antimicrobial Peptides and Activities #Biology #Colubridae #Disjunct #Ecology #Evolutionary biology #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies #Population #Subspecies #Zoology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/jhered/esad051
published in Journal of Heredity 114(6), 690-697 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 2023/09/09 · openalex created_date 2023/09/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Snakes in the family Colubridae include more than 2,000 currently recognized species, and comprise roughly 75% of the global snake species diversity on Earth. For such a spectacular radiation, colubrid snakes remain poorly understood ecologically and genetically. Two subfamilies, Colubrinae (788 species) and Dipsadinae (833 species), comprise the bulk of colubrid species richness. Dipsadines are a speciose and diverse group of snakes that largely inhabit Central and South America, with a handful of small-body-size genera that have invaded North America. Among them, the ring-necked snake, Diadophis punctatus, has an incredibly broad distribution with 14 subspecies. Given its continental distribution and high degree of variation in coloration, diet, feeding ecology, and behavior, the ring-necked snake is an excellent species for the study of genetic diversity and trait evolution. Within California, six subspecies form a continuously distributed "ring species" around the Central Valley, while a seventh, the regal ring-necked snake, Diadophis punctatus regalis is a disjunct outlier and Species of Special Concern in the state. Here, we report a new reference genome assembly for the San Diego ring-necked snake, D. p. similis, as part of the California Conservation Genomics Project. This assembly comprises a total of 444 scaffolds spanning 1,783 Mb and has a contig N50 of 8.0 Mb, scaffold N50 of 83 Mb, and BUSCO completeness score of 94.5%. This reference genome will be a valuable resource for studies of the taxonomy, conservation, and evolution of the ring-necked snake across its broad, continental distribution.