Burrowing snakes are not the evolutionary dead ends many biologists assumed—they have diversified into hundreds of species with strikingly different skull and body shapes, all while living underground. This matters because the standard view holds that limbless, headfirst burrowers face such severe physical constraints that rapid adaptation is unlikely. Yet the Uropeltoidea—a major lineage of soil-dwelling snakes found across South and Southeast Asia—contradicts that assumption. No one has systematically studied how their skeletons vary or how fast they evolved, leaving a gap in understanding how life adapts to life in soil, and possibly how snakes originated. SOILRAD will fill that gap. The researcher will use microCT scans of museum specimens to map 3D variation in skulls, jaws, and neck vertebrae; reconstruct a detailed evolutionary tree using ancient DNA; and test whether these snakes underwent adaptive radiation. This is fundamental evolutionary biology. It will not directly change agriculture, medicine, or infrastructure. But understanding how organisms overcome extreme environmental constraints has historically informed fields from materials science to robotics—and it reshapes basic knowledge of how biodiversity arises in the most hidden habitats.
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Snakes are a large radiation (ca. 4,000 species) of reptiles that evolved from lizard ancestors. Although the early evolutionary history of snakes is hotly debated, the remarkable transition to an elongated, limbless body form is generally thought to have evolved as an adaptation to a fossorial (burrowing) lifestyle. Life in soil imposes several, severe functional constraints on morphology and this has led to the view that limbless, headfirst burrowers are less likely to undergo rapid or adaptive radiation. Surprisingly, very few studies have explored the ecomorphological diversification of any major extant burrowing snake lineage, despite implications for understanding evolution in soils (including the possible origin of snakes). SOILRAD will trace the diversification of lineages and the adaptive possibilities of ecomorphology in Uropeltoidea, a major lineage of soil-dwelling snakes with great diversity in body and hea shape. In SOILRAD, I will explore uropeltoid diversification through three Research Objectives: (1.) apply 3-dimensional geometric morphometrics to microCT data from the huge collection of museum specimens at NHM, to quantify and identify the main axes of variation in skeletal morphology (skull, mandible and 'neck' vertebrae); (2.) use ancient DNA and Next-Generation sequencing techniques to reconstruct a more-complete evolutionary tree of Uropeltoidea; and (3.) assess rates and modes of lineage and ecomorphological diversification, and test hypotheses of adaptive radiation. SOILRAD will produce the most comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis and first extensive quantitative data on uropeltoid osteology, and first detailed assessment of diversification in any major lineage of burrowing snakes. Through SOILRAD, I will be trained in CT imaging, 3D morphometrics, ancient DNA methods, museum collection management, public engagement and other professional skills that will establish me as a potential research-group leader in evolutionary biology research.
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