This $148,884 project grant from the National Science Foundation's Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) will support research to identify undescribed snake species diversity in New Guinea through fieldwork, genetic and morphological analysis, and taxonomic revisions. The Field Museum of Natural History will conduct expeditions to collect groundsnake and keelback snake specimens in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Philippines for DNA sequencing and high-resolution CT scanning. Museum specimens will also be analyzed to fill sampling gaps. Researchers will describe new species and revise the taxonomy and phylogeny of the focal snake genera based on molecular and morphological data. Undergraduate and graduate students from the U.S. and Papua New Guinea will participate in fieldwork and help create online species descriptions, advancing their scientific training. Results will be published openly to contribute to biodiversity knowledge and international collaboration.
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