Why Does Snakes’ Evolutionary Clock Tick Faster Than Other Animal Groups?
Snake
Chimauchem Nwosu The speed at which serpents evolve and adapt to the environment is fascinating, but evolutionary scientists cannot figure out why this happens so rapidly.Snakes possess an evolutionary advantage with their accelerated adaptation rate outpacing that of other reptiles and making them evolutionary victors, according to a new study published in the journal Science.Lead author Pascal Title, an evolutionary macroecologist at Stony Brook University in New York, likened snakes to the “Big Bang ‘singularity’ in cosmology” — substantial growth in biodiversity across ecosystems, potentially associated with a critical moment in their evolutionary journey.
Beyond PoliticsMysterious Anti-Snake Bite Spells Found in Newly Unearthed Tomb of Pharaoh’s Scribe5 November 2023, 10:25 GMTThe study focused on over 11,000 species of squamates, the largest order of reptiles consisting of snakes and lizards. Genetic material from about 1,000 snakes and lizards were examined, along with over 60,000 museum specimens and field observations.Using data from their findings, the research team constructed an extensive evolutionary tree detailing physiological and dietary changes over time. Mathematical and statistical models were employed to assess snake and lizard evolution.The study found that snakes underwent evolutionary changes three times faster than lizards. Serpents first appeared around 128 million years ago. They saw a major adaptive radiation about 70 million years ago, when dinosaurs still existed, and another significant surge following the giant reptiles’ extinction.
"Compared to lizards, they have changed relatively rapidly, and they've continued to do so through time," said Daniel Rabosky, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Michigan. "So we would also say that the continued 'evolutionary explosion' of snakes is still ongoing today and appears partly driven by the fact that the rate of evolution — their 'evolutionary clock,' so to speak — is just ticking a lot faster than many other groups of animals."
Snakes’ evolutionary flexibility enables them to change their body shape and diets “very quickly,” Rabosky noted.Snakes’ evolutionary success is attributed to the development of sophisticated chemical recognition systems, flexible skulls and bodies without limbs. These transformations enable them to target different prey and provide the framework for individual species to evolve and specialize.However, the reason for snakes evolving at such a rapid pace remains elusive.
"This is the big question for us. We can’t really explain this yet," Rabovsky said. "But this is the nature of science, right? Usually, solving a mystery goes hand-in-hand with raising new questions that you have to answer."
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