Phylogeny of South American triad coral snakes (Elapidae : Micrurus) basedon molecular characters

We present new molecular data (mtDNA sequences and allozymes) for several s pecies of South American "triad" coral snakes. We present a phylogenetic hy pothesis for the group based on analysis of molecular characters using both maximum parsimony (MP) and maximum likelihood (ML) optimality criteria. Re sults from both methods are generally congruent and suggest a basal positio n for the morphologically and ecologically unique Micrurus surinamensis. Th e M. frontalis complex is shown to be papraphyletic with respect to several other species in the parsimony and likelihood trees, but a topology constr aining this group to monophyly cannot be statistically rejected compared to the best MP or ML trees. All analyses provide strong support for polyphyly of M. "lemniscatus", and in this case, the alternative monophyly topology is strongly rejected under both optimality criteria. These results undersco re the need for a more detailed analysis of populations currently assigned to M. lemniscatus.