Cytonuclear discordance in the Florida Everglades invasive Burmese python (Python bivittatus) population reveals possible hybridization with the Indian python (P. molurus)

Invasive Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) have been reproducing in the Florida Everglades since the 1980s. Introduction of the species was either due to unintentional escapes or intentional releases from snakes obtained through the commercial pet trade. Burmese pythons have caused a precipitous decline in small mammal populations in south Florida. To better understand the invasive population, two mitochondrial loci (mtDNA; 1398 bps) were sequenced on 426 snakes and 22 microsatellites were genotyped on 389 snakes. Concatenated cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase 1 mtDNA sequences produced six haplotypes with a nucleotide and haplotype diversity of π=0.002 and h=0.097, respectively. The dominant haplotype was highly...

Categories: Data; Types: Citation; Tags: Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades, Everglades National Park, Florida, Florida Keys, All tags... Genetics, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), biota, invasive species, management methods, mitochondrial marker, nuclear microsatellite marker, phylogenetic population structure, Fewer tags