The latest paper out of the lab has been published in a special issue on integrative taxonomy of reptiles in the Journal of Natural History! In this paper, we use molecular phylogenetics to examine the relationships within and among all currently recognized species of Sonora (ground snakes), Chionactis (shovel-nosed snakes) and Chilomeniscus (sand snakes). We found that the genus Sonora is not monophyletic with regards to Chionactis and Chilomeniscus, and that the species Sonora semiannulata was also not monophyletic. We rectified this non-monophyly by synonymizing Chionactis and Chilomeniscus with Sonora (Sonora has taxonomic priority), and by recognizing some of the previously recognized diversity within Sonora semiannulata. Read the paper at the link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00222933.2018.1449912
