Leptodeira is a Neotropical genus of snakes with nine species, divided in four morphological groups: annulata with the species L. annulata (L. a. annulata, L. a. ashmeadi, L. a. cussiliris, L. a. pulchriceps, L. a. rhombifera), L. bakeri, L. maculata, L. frenata (L. f. frenata, L. f. malleisi, L. f. yucatanensis), L. uribei; septentrionalis with L. septentrionalis (L. s. septentrionalis, L. s. larcorum, L. s. ornata, L. s. polysticta), L. splendida (L. s. splendida, L. s. bressoni, L. s. ephippiata); nigrofasciata only with L. nigrofasciata; and the punctata group represented by L. punctata. In the last taxonomic review of the genus, many species were considered as subspecies, being characterized primarily based on pattern of color. However, recent molecular analyses did not corroborate the taxonomic arrangement previously proposed. The two species with larger geographic distribution and more number of subspecies, L. annulata and L. septentrionalis, did not have their monophyly validated. In the more recent phylogenetic proposal of Leptodeira, the monophyly of the L. annulata/septentrionalis complex was obtained from molecular characters, being recovered two clades geographically distinct: a North clade, in the south of North America and north of Central America (L. s. polysticta ((L. rubricata - L. a. rhombifera) ((L. a. cussiliris - L. maculata) L. a. cussiliris))); and a South clade in south of Central America and entire South America ((L. s. ornata–L. a. annulata) (L. s. ornata (L. bakeri (L. a. ashmeadi–L. a. annulata)))). In this work I present a phylogenetic hypothesis for Leptodeira and I review taxonomically the clade South of the L. annulata/septentrionalis complex, presenting a new taxonomic arrangement for the group. Thus, the present thesis is organized in: General Introduction, where were presented the information about taxonomy and systematics of Leptodeira, specially of the annulata/septentrionalis complex; Chapter 1 entitled “Phylogenetic analysis of Leptodeira (Serpentes, Dipsadidae)”, with the aim of proposing a phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus, based in molecular characters; and the Chapter 2 entitled “Taxonomy of the species of the South clade of the L. annulata/septentrionalis complex (Serpentes, Dipsadidae)”, which have the objective of characterize morphologically the clades obtained from the molecular analysis and of propose a new taxonomic arrangement for the group.
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