Phylogenetic affinities of the fossil elapids Naja romani and Naja antiqua (Serpentes: Elapidae)

International audienceThe genus Naja Laurenti, 1768 comprises 32 extant species of venomoussnakes, commonly known as "cobras", allocated in four distinct lineages(Wüster et al., 2007, Mol. Phyl. Evol. 45:437–453): the Asianspitting-cobras (11 species, subgenus Naja), the African spittingcobras(seven species, subgenus Afronaja), the African non-spittingopen area clade (six species, subgenus Uraeus) and the African nonspittingforest clade (seven species, subgenus Boulengerina). In recentyears, the diversity of the genus has grown considerably, mainly givento taxonomic revisions based on new molecular analyses and new discoveriesin the field. Furthermore, while the taxonomy of the genus isnow considered stable, its evolutionary history remains poorly understood,especially within the known lineages. Apart from the extantspecies, the genus Naja also presents a rich fossil record that spansfrom the Early/Middle Miocene to the Late Pliocene in Africa andEurope. This fossil record has been studied in the past, with importantremarks on their distribution throughout the European continent(Bachmayer, F. & Szyndlar, Z., 1985, Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien,87:79–100; Szyndlar, Z. & Rage, J. C., 1990, Amphibia-Reptilia11:385–400; Szyndlar, Z. & Zerova, G. A., 1990, Ann. Naturhist.Mus. Wien 91A:53–61). Szyndlar & Rage (1990) provided an osteologicaldescription of the genus based on both extant and extinct species,in an important contribution showing their geographic distribution.However, no attempts have been made to conduct a broader phylogeneticanalysis until then. Here, we present the first attempt to elucidatethe phylogenetic history of the genus, with a morphological analysisthat includes 26 of the 32 extant species along with key-fossil taxafrom the Miocene Naja antiqua and Naja romani) and the Pliocene(Naja depereti)