HOW DOES ECOLOGICAL OPPORTUNITY INFLUENCE RATES OF SPECIATION, EXTINCTION, AND MORPHOLOGICAL DIVERSIFICATION IN NEW WORLD RATSNAKES (TRIBE LAMPROPELTINI)?

Ecological adaptive radiation theory predicts an increase in both morphological and specific diversification when organisms colonize new environments. Accordingly, bursts of morphological diversification, characterized by low within-subclade morphological disparity, may be associated with these increases in speciation rates. Conversely, increasing species density, reduction in available habitat, or increasing extinction rates are expected to...