Phylogeography of the Rough Greensnake, Opheodrys aestivus (Squamata: Colubridae), using multilocus Sanger sequence and genomic ddRADseq data

The Rough Greensnake, Opheodrys aestivus, is a moderately-sized, semi-arboreal snake broadly distributed throughout eastern North America. While numerous taxa with similar distributions have been shown to be comprised of multiple species, O. aestivus has yet to be examined in a detailed phylogeographic context. Here, we use Sanger-sequence data of one mitochondrial and three nuclear loci for samples from throughout the distribution of O. aestivus to elucidate phylogeographic patterns in this species. We combine this with ddRADseq data for a subset of samples to test patterns on a more genomically comprehensive scale. In both datasets, we find strong support for three deeply divergent clades within O. aestivus: peninsular Florida, central Texas, and a main clade comprising the rest of the distribution, with the Florida clade the earliest diverging lineage of the three. Estimates of divergence time suggest that the central Texas and main clades diverged approximately 1.34 million years ag...