Micrelapidae Das &amp; Greenbaum &amp; Meiri &amp; Bauer &amp; Burbrink &amp; Raxworthy &amp; Weinell &amp; Brown &amp; Brecko &amp; Pauwels &amp; Rabibisoa &amp; Raselimanana &amp; Merila 2023, new family
Creators: name: Das, Sunandan
name: Greenbaum, Eli
name: Meiri, Shai
name: Bauer, Aaron M.
name: Burbrink, Frank T.
name: Raxworthy, Christopher J.
name: Weinell, Jeffrey L.
name: Brown, Rafe M.
name: Brecko, Jonathan
name: Pauwels, Olivier S. G.
name: Rabibisoa, Nirhy
name: Raselimanana, Achille P.
name: Merila, Juha
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Squamata
Micrelapidae

description: Micrelapidae <i>new family</i>. Type genus: <i>Micrelaps</i> Boettger, 1880. Type species: <i>Micrelaps muelleri</i> Boettger, 1880. Etymology: Boettger (Bottger &amp;Dot;) did not give the etymology for the generic nomen but was almost certainly from the Latin adjective micro-, derived from the Greek mikros (small), and elaps, the Latinised form of the Greek noun´ellops or´elaps (literally sea-fish or serpent, but here in reference to the snake genus <i>Elaps</i>, now a synonym of <i>Homoroselaps</i>). Micrelapidae <i>fam. nov.</i> is derived from <i>Micrelaps</i> by the taking the stem elap- of the root word of the nomen. Content: <i>Micrelaps muelleri</i> Boettger, 1880, <i>Micrelaps bicoloratus</i> Sternfeld, 1908, <i>Micrelaps vaillanti</i> Mocquard, 1888, <i>Brachyophis revoili</i> Mocquard, 1888. Diagnosis and definition: In the crania of <i>Micrelaps</i> and <i>Brachyophis</i> we examined the ectopterygoid was laterally and medially expanded at the point of contact with the pterygoid, with this expansion not being contiguous with the ectopterygoid anterolateral and anteromedial lobes (Fig. 4, Supplementary material fig. 53, 54). The lateral expansion is a posterolaterally and somewhat ventrally directed, very prominent protuberance continuous with a ridge on the ventral surface of the pterygoid. This character state was not present in any other cranium we examined and is very likely a synapomorphy of the family. Other common cranial characters include a premaxilla adapted for a fossorial lifestyle, premaxillary transverse processes closely approaching the maxilla, a short maxilla with ascending processes abutting the prefrontal, well-developed, grooved fangs below the orbit, preceded by a diastema and 2 – 3 teeth, an ectopterygoid deeply forked into anterolateral and anteromedial lobes that articulate with maxillary ectopterygoid processes leaving a foramen in the middle, prefrontal and parietal supraorbital processes laterally bordering the frontal and almost meeting each other, a tendency towards fusion of cranial bones (especially because the supratemporal is absent, very likely fused to the quadrate in <i>Brachyophis</i> and to posterior chondrocranial elements in <i>Micrelaps</i>), and a short quadrate. <i>Brachyophis</i>, however, differs from the type genus in possessing a postorbital (versus postorbital absent in <i>Micrelaps</i>), dorsolateral adductor ridges on the parietal (versus a single sagittal ridge in <i>Micrelaps</i>), only a faint pseudocoronoid ridge on the dentary (versus a prominent process in <i>Micrelaps</i>). Scalation characters that are common in both genera include 1 nasal, 7 supralabials, 15 smooth dorsal scale rows, absence of a loreal, 2 anal shields. Ventrals range from 170 to 280 and subcaudals (paired) 16 – 32 in <i>Micrelaps</i> (Boulenger, 1896; De Witte and Laurent, 1947; Rasmussen, 2002; Werner et al., 2006; Spawls et al., 2018). In <i>Brachyophis</i>, ventrals range from 103 to 123 and subcaudals (single) 8 – 14 (De Witte and Laurent, 1947; Lanza, 1966). <i>Brachyophis</i> has a large, azygous occipital shield (Boulenger, 1896). <i>Micrelaps</i> and <i>Brachyophis</i> possess a rectal caecum and a short genital sinus in the female, two soft tissue traits used to cluster these two genera by Underwood and Kochva (1993). Distribution: <i>Micrelaps</i> spp. is distributed in eastern and northeastern Africa and western Asia. <i>Brachyophis</i> is limited to Somalia in north-eastern Africa. Distribution: <i>Micrelaps</i> spp. is distributed in eastern and northeastern Africa and western Asia. <i>Brachyophis</i> is limited to Somalia in north-eastern Africa. Remarks: Geniez (2018) commented that <i>Micrelaps</i> “could constitute a separate family within its own right, that of Micrelapsidae”. Bar et al. (2021) likewise wrote that “. The actual placement of the genus [<i>Micrelaps</i>] is often poorly supported within studies and inconsistent across them. We suspect it will soon be placed in its own family — as is the norm in taxonomy these days. We predict this family, containing a single genus (<i>Micrelaps</i>), will be called Micrelapidae.”. However, these authors did not explicitly express that they are erecting a new family for these snakes. Rather, it was a suggestion about what should/could be done. It therefore is not in accordance with Article 16.1 and Recommendation 16A of The Code (ICZN, 1999). They also did not also provide characters for the express purpose of differentiating or diagnosing “Micrelapsidae” or “ Micrelapidae ”, nor did they cite a work containing the same (again, very likely because a nomenclatural act presumably was not the intention of Geniez [2018] and it was not the intention of SM, who wrote this in Bar et al. [2021] either) and this contravenes Articles 13.1.1, 13.1.2 and Recommendation 13A of The Code. Hence, we regard the nomen “Micrelapsidae” as unavailable. The ZooBank LSID for this taxonomic action is urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D8475246-AD8E-4886-AB55- 12F6F242E9C4.
description: Published as part of <i>Das, Sunandan, Greenbaum, Eli, Meiri, Shai, Bauer, Aaron M., Burbrink, Frank T., Raxworthy, Christopher J., Weinell, Jeffrey L., Brown, Rafe M., Brecko, Jonathan, Pauwels, Olivier S. G., Rabibisoa, Nirhy, Raselimanana, Achille P. &amp; Merila, Juha, 2023, Ultraconserved elements-based phylogenomic systematics of the snake superfamily Elapoidea, with the description of a new Afro-Asian family, pp. 1-11 in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 180</i> on pages 8-9, DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107700, http://zenodo.org/record/7746501
description: {"references": ["Sternfeld, R., 1908. Zur Schlangenfauna Ostafrikas. I. Schlangen aus Sud-Abessinien. Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin 4, 239 - 247.", "Mocquard, F., 1888. Sur une collection de Reptiles et de Batraciens rapport\u00b4es des Pays Comalis et de Zanzibar par M. G. R\u00b4evoil. M\u00b4emoires Publies par la Soci\u00b4ete\u00b4 Philomathique a l' occasion du Centenaire de sa fondation 1788 - 1888, 109 - 134.", "Boulenger, G. A., 1896. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III, containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae, and Viperidae. Trustees of the British Museum, London.", "de Witte, G. - F., Laurent, R., 1947. R\u00b4evision d' un groupe de Colubridae africains: genres Calamelaps, Miodon, Aparallactus et formes affines. M\u00b4em. Mus. R. His. Nat. Belg. 29, 1 - 134.", "Rasmussen, J. B., 2002. A review of the African members of the genus Micrelaps Boettger 1880 (Serpentes Atractaspididae). Tropical Zoology 15, 71 - 87.", "Werner, Y. L., Babocsay, G., Carmely, H., Thuna, M., 2006. Micrelaps in the southern Levant: variation, sexual dimorphism, and a new species (Serpentes: Atractaspididae). Zool. Middle East 38, 29 - 48.", "Spawls, S., Howell, K., Hinkel, H., Menegon, M., 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles, second edition. Bloomsbury Wildlife, London.", "Lanza, B., 1966. Il genere Brachyophis e descrizione di una nuova forma (Reptilia, Serpentes, Colubridae). Monit. Zool. Ital. 74, 30 - 48.", "Underwood, G., Kochva, E., 1993. On the affinities of the burrowing asps Atractaspis (Serpentes: Atractaspididae). Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 107, 3 - 64.", "Geniez, P., 2018. Snakes of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East: A Photographic Guide. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford.", "Bar, A., Haimovitch, G., Meiri, S., 2021. Field guide to the amphibians and reptiles of, Israel. Edition. Chimaira, Frankfurt Am Main.", "ICZN (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature), 1999. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, fourth edition. International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, London."]}