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Molecular and morphological assessment of Australia’s most endangered snake, Hoplocephalus bungaroides, reveals two evolutionarily significant units for conservation

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Abstract

The Broad-headed snake Hoplocephalus bungaroides is one of Australia’s most endangered vertebrates. Extant populations of H. bungaroides are restricted to several geographically isolated reserves to the north, west, and south of Sydney. We analysed mitochondrial DNA from 184 specimens drawn from across the geographic range of the Broad-headed snake. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that H. bungaroides comprises two divergent mitochondrial lineages with a “northern” clade comprising populations west and north of Sydney and a “southern” clade comprising animals in Morton National Park. The two clades differ by an uncorrected genetic distance of 1.7%, which implies a divergence dating to approximately 755,000–850,000 years ago. We complemented our molecular data set with a detailed analysis of morphological variation both between and within the genetic clades. The two H. bungaroides genetic clades are morphologically indistinguishable and show little sexual dimorphism. Our results demonstrate that the populations north and south of this biogeographic split function as two distinct populations with no recent gene flow. There is no reason for separate taxonomic recognition of these two clades, but they do represent distinct evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) that require separate conservation management. In addition, within the northern ESU, populations from Royal National Park, Blue Mountains National Park, Wollemi National Park, and the Sydney Water Catchment supply areas should be considered as separate management units to conserve both evolutionary and ecological processes.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mark Fitzgerald and Jai Thomas for carrying out surveys for H. bungaroides, and Peter Harlow, David Pike and Simon Clulow for kindly providing tissue samples and locality data. Gary Daly and Ross Wellington provided expert advice on the distribution of Broad-headed snakes. We thank Les Mitchell, Phil Craven and Bruce Grey from the Department of Environment and Conservation (Nowra NPWS) for organising helicopter surveys and for their assistance in the field. Meagan Ewings (DEC Hurstville) helped organise surveys and assisted us during field work. We thank the curators and collection managers of all the Australian natural history museums who lent us the specimens in their care: Allen Greer and Ross Sadlier (Australian Museum), Jeanette Covacevich and Patrick Couper (Queensland Museum), John Coventry (National Museum of Victoria), Mark Hutchinson and Adrienne Edwards (South Australian Museum), and John Wombey (CSIRO Australian National Wildlife Collection). All research was carried out according to the University of Sydney Animal Care and Ethics Committee guidelines under a scientific licence from the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (Licence S10029). The research was supported financially by the Australian Research Council (grants to S. Keogh and R. Shine and a fellowship to J. Sumner), the University of Sydney (Sesqui Fellowship to J. Webb), the Australian Academy of Science (Margaret Middleton Award to J. Webb), and the Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW (grant to R. Shine).

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  1. Joanna Sumner

    Present address: Museum Victoria, 11 Nicholson St., Carlton Gardens, Melbourne, VIC, 3053, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Botany and Zoology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia

    Joanna Sumner & J. Scott Keogh

  2. School of Biological Sciences A08, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Jonathan K. Webb & Richard Shine

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  1. Joanna Sumner
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Correspondence to Joanna Sumner.

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Sumner, J., Webb, J.K., Shine, R. et al. Molecular and morphological assessment of Australia’s most endangered snake, Hoplocephalus bungaroides, reveals two evolutionarily significant units for conservation. Conserv Genet 11, 747–758 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-009-9863-7

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