Phylogeny of courtship and male-male combat behavior in snakes

Phil Senter, Fayetteville State University
Shannon M. Harris, Fayetteville State University
Danielle L. Kent, Fayetteville State University

Abstract

Methodology/Principal Findings: From the literature on courtship and male-male combat in snakes we chose 33 behaviors to analyze. We plotted the 33 behaviors onto a phylogenetic tree to determine whether phylogenetic patterns were discernible. We found that phylogenetic patterns are discernible for some behaviors but not for others. For behaviors with discernible phylogenetic patterns, we used the fossil record to determine minimum ages for the addition of each behavior to the courtship and combat behavioral repertoire of each snake clade.