The activity period extends from March to October, with males emerging from hibernation earlier than females, peaking in May. Female emergence occurs one month later, peaking in June. A total of 41.18% of captured males had recent scars and wounds, indicative of fighting during the mating season from mid-April to mid-June. Leer más.
The Sporades are one of the most biologically important archipelagos in the Aegean Sea (Greece) and have received priority conservation over the last 50 years. However, despite numerous early efforts, its herpetofauna is only partially described, resulting in many distributional gaps that have prevented adequate understanding and management of the resident species communities. Leer más.
Our data notably increase the known ranges of various species and lineages found in Morocco, and indicate a divergent genetic lineage within one of the newly described species. While far greater numbers of genetic markers will be needed to resolve taxonomic questions, greater geographic sampling is also still needed both to delimit the species, and to identify regions where potential genetic admixture may occur. Leer más.
Consistent with predictions, we found that increasing mean temperatures resulted in earlier initialisation of spawning, and earlier hatching, but these relationships were not consistent across all sites. Lower temperatures were also linked to increased spawn mortality. However, temperature increases were also strongly correlated with increases in urban area, arable area, and nitrate levels in the vicinity of spawning grounds. Leer más.
Here, we use new exon-capture and linear morphological datasets to investigate the tempo and mode of morphological evolution in Australo-Melanesian Tiliquini skinks. We generate a well-supported time-calibrated phylogenomic tree from ∼400 nuclear markers for more than 100 specimens, including undescribed diversity, and provide unprecedented resolution of the rapid Miocene diversification of these lizards. Leer más.
