A near-complete species-level phylogeny of uropeltid snakes harnessing historical museum collections as a DNA source.

Uropeltidae is a clade of small fossorial snakes (ca. 64 extant species) endemic to peninsular India and Sri Lanka. Uropeltid taxonomy has been confusing, and the status of some species has not been revised for over a century. Attempts to revise uropeltid systematics and undertake evolutionary studies have been hampered by incompletely sampled and incompletely resolved phylogenies. To address this issue, we take advantage of historical museum collections, including type specimens, and apply genome-wide shotgun (GWS) sequencing, along with recent field sampling (using Sanger sequencing) to establish a near-complete multilocus species-level phylogeny (ca. 87% complete at species level). This results in a phylogeny that supports the monophyly of all genera (if Brachyophidium is considered a junior synonym of Teretrurus), and provides a firm platform for future taxonomic revision. Sri Lankan uropeltids are probably monophyletic, indicating a single colonisation event of this island from Indian ancestors. However, the position of Rhinophis goweri (endemic to Eastern Ghats, southern India) is unclear and warrants further investigation, and evidence that it may nest within the Sri Lankan radiation indicates a possible recolonisation event. DNA sequence data and morphology suggest that currently recognised uropeltid species diversity is substantially underestimated. Our study highlights the benefits of integrating museum collections in molecular genetic analyses and their role in understanding the systematics and evolutionary history of understudied organismal groups.

Categorization of hemocytes of three gastropod species Trachea vittata (Muller), Pila globosa (Swainson) and Indoplanorbis exustus (Dehays).

Light microscopic observations were made on the hemocytes of three gastropod species namely Trachea vittata, Indoplanorbis exustus and Pila globosa. It revealed two basic types of hemocytes. They are agranulocytes and granulocytes. Agranulocytes are hyalinocytes which are round, unspread hemocytes and have a large nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio. Granulocytes are spreading hemocytes, forming numerous pseudopodia. For the purpose of differential counting, we present a categorization of the granulocytes into three sub-categories based on cell dimensions, nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio, distribution of granules in the cytoplasm and position of the nucleus. The smaller granulocytes are younger cells, and are termed Granulocytes I (Progranulocytes). The larger ones are fully developed cells that have been differentiated into Granulocyte II (basophilic) and Granulocyte III (eosinophilic).