Examining Mitochondrial Genetic Diversity in a Population of Eastern Hognose Snakes (Heterodon platirhinos) in Cape Cod, MA

Examining Mitochondrial Genetic Diversity in a Population of Eastern Hognose Snakes {Heterodon platirhinos) in Cape Cod, MA Stephanie R. Parelli College of Science and Mathematics Montclair State University The Eastern Hognose snake {Heterodon platirhinos) is a relatively poorly studied species found in the eastern half of the United States from southern New England and Ontario south along the Atlantic coast to Florida and west to Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. In the Northeastern part of their range they are considered to be a species of regional conservation concern by the Northeast Endangered Species and Wildlife Diversity Technical Committee. They are protected by conservation measures in the states of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and are listed as endangered by the state of New Hampshire. The purpose of this study was to examine the genetic diversity of a population of H. platirhinos in Cape Cod, MA, in order to determine whether this population was being impacted genetically by habitat fragmentation. Tissue samples were collected from snakes in conjunction with a radio telemetry study which covered three major towns in the northernmost part of the peninsula of Cape Cod. DNA was obtained from a total of twenty-three snakes and partial sequences of the mitochondrial control region were compared. All sequences were joined in a statistical parsimony network with a 95% confidence connection limit. Five unique haplotypes were distinguished which differed by no more than three base pairs, and there was no correlation between geographic location and haplotype occurrence. These results suggest

[1]  Dwight R. Platt.  Natural history of the hognose snakes, Heterodon platyrhinos and Heterodon nasicus , 2016 .

[2]  J. Hines,et al.  Habitat fragmentation effects on annual survival of the federally protected eastern indigo snake , 2012 .

[3]  J. Row,et al.  Movements and Habitat Use of Eastern Foxsnakes (Pantherophis gloydi) in Two Areas Varying in Size and Fragmentation , 2012 .

[4]  S. Ursenbacher,et al.  Grass Snake Population Differentiation over Different Geographic Scales , 2012 .

[5]  J. Row,et al.  Habitat distribution influences dispersal and fine‐scale genetic population structure of eastern foxsnakes (Mintonius gloydi) across a fragmented landscape , 2010, Molecular ecology.

[6]  N. E. Mills,et al.  Body Temperature Variation in Free-Ranging Hognose Snakes (Heterodon platirhinos) , 2010 .

[7]  J. Row,et al.  Discordant patterns of population structure for two co‐distributed snake species across a fragmented Ontario landscape , 2010 .

[8]  W. K. Savage,et al.  Landcover predicts isolation in Ambystoma salamanders across region and species , 2009 .

[9]  Stephen J. Najjar,et al.  An Examination of Scale-Dependent Resource Use by Eastern Hognose Snakes in Southcentral New Hampshire , 2009 .

[10]  Pablo Librado,et al.  DnaSP v5: a software for comprehensive analysis of DNA polymorphism data , 2009, Bioinform..

[11]  F. Burbrink,et al.  Demographic and phylogeographic histories of two venomous North American snakes of the genus Agkistrodon. , 2008, Molecular phylogenetics and evolution.

[12]  S. Carthew,et al.  Use of space by the yellow-footed antechinus, Antechinus flavipes, in a fragmented landscape in South Australia , 2008, Landscape Ecology.

[13]  M. Siddall,et al.  Phylogeography of Diadophis punctatus: extensive lineage diversity and repeated patterns of historical demography in a trans-continental snake. , 2008, Molecular phylogenetics and evolution.

[14]  Luc Lens,et al.  Ranging behaviour and habitat use by an Afrotropical songbird in a fragmented landscape , 2007 .

[15]  Rodrigo Lopez,et al.  Clustal W and Clustal X version 2.0 , 2007, Bioinform..

[16]  R. Brooks,et al.  A phylogeographic analysis of populations of the wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) throughout its range , 2007, Molecular ecology.

[17]  G. Cunnington,et al.  Mating and Nesting Behavior of the Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platirhinos) in the Northern Portion of its Range , 2005 .

[18]  Robert C. Edgar,et al.  MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput. , 2004, Nucleic acids research.

[19]  N. E. Mills,et al.  Spatial Ecology and Survivorship of Resident and Translocated Hognose Snakes (Heterodon platirhinos) , 2000 .

[20]  K. Crandall,et al.  TCS: a computer program to estimate gene genealogies , 2000, Molecular ecology.

[21]  H. Gibbs,et al.  Genetic structure of populations of the threatened eastern massasauga rattlesnake, Sistrurus c. catenatus: evidence from microsatellite DNA markers , 1997, Molecular ecology.

[22]  H. Gibbs,et al.  Population Genetic Structure in the Black Rat Snake: Implications for Management , 1997 .

[23]  M. Nishida,et al.  Gene rearrangements in snake mitochondrial genomes: highly concerted evolution of control-region-like sequences duplicated and inserted into a tRNA gene cluster. , 1996, Molecular biology and evolution.

[24]  N. E. Mills,et al.  Observations on Trailing and Mating Behaviors in Hognose Snakes (Heterodon platirhinos) , 1996 .

[25]  W. Moore.  INFERRING PHYLOGENIES FROM mtDNA VARIATION: MITOCHONDRIAL‐GENE TREES VERSUS NUCLEAR‐GENE TREES , 1995, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[26]  C. Moritz.  Defining 'Evolutionarily Significant Units' for conservation. , 1994, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[27]  H. Fitch.  Relative Abundance of Snakes in Kansas , 1993 .

[28]  V. Bohr,et al.  Repair of mitochondrial DNA after various types of DNA damage in Chinese hamster ovary cells. , 1992, Carcinogenesis.

[29]  J. Lazell,et al.  Distribution and relative abundance of the hognose snake, Heterodon platirhinos, in eastern New England , 1989 .

[30]  H. K. Reinert.  Habitat Separation Between Sympatric Snake Populations , 1984 .

[31]  H. W. Shirer,et al.  A Radiotelemetric Study of Spatial Relationships in Some Common Snakes , 1971 .

[32]  R. Conant.  The Reptiles of Ohio , 1938 .

[33]  M. Brady.  Notes on the Herpetology of Hog Island , 1925 .

[34]  J. Rossi.  Snakes of the United States and Canada , 2003 .

[35]  Richard Shine,et al.  Inbreeding depression in an isolated population of adders Vipera berus , 1996 .

[36]  K. Prior.  Habitat Features of Black Rat Snake Hibernacula in Ontario , 1996 .

[37]  D. Scott.  NOTES ON THE EASTERN HOGNOSE SNAKE, HETERODON-PLATYRHINOS LATREILLE (SQUAMATA, COLUBRIDAE), ON A VIRGINIA BARRIER-ISLAND , 1986 .