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515 results for “skinks”
Figure 1 in Thermal ecologyı activity patternı habitatı and microhabitats used by the skink Mabuya arajara (Squamata: Scincidae) in the Araripe Plateauı northeastern Brazil
Figure 1. Frequency of occurrence of Mabuya arajara (males and females) in different microhabitats utilised on the slope of the Araripe plateau, northeast Brazil, from September 2009 to July 2010.
FIGURE 4 in A review of the African snake-eyed skinks (Scincidae: Panaspis) from Angola, with the description of a new species
FIGURE 4—Illustration of the head of the holotype of Lygosoma (Leilopisma) auricillatum Chabanaud, 1917. Adapted from Chabanaud (1917).
FIGURE 5 in A review of the African snake-eyed skinks (Scincidae: Panaspis) from Angola, with the description of a new species
FIGURE 5—Specimen of Panaspis aff. breviceps from Roça Canzele, Angola (FMNH 74297). Photo by Joshua Mata.
FIGURE 8 in A review of the African snake-eyed skinks (Scincidae: Panaspis) from Angola, with the description of a new species
FIGURE 8—Preserved specimen of Panaspis cabindae from Capangombe, Namibe Province, Angola (CAS 264244). Photo by Luis M. P. Ceríaco.
FIGURE 3 in A new species of African Snake-Eyed Skink (Scincidae: Panaspis) from Ethiopia
FIGURE 3. Geographic context of Ethiopian Panaspis. The red star is the type locality of P. anettesabinae, the red circles are literature reports of potential conspecific localities based on photographs in life (Largen and Spawls 2010), the green dot is the type locality of P. tancredi, the blue dot is the recently discovered and undescribed P. sp. nov. reported here, and the grey dots are museum specimens or literature reports of indeterminate specific assignment (see Largen and Spawls 2006, 2010).
FIGURE 2 in A new species of African Snake-Eyed Skink (Scincidae: Panaspis) from Ethiopia
FIGURE 2. Photographs (dorsal and ventral view) of the holotype of Panaspis annettesabinae (TJC264, ZMNH H2019,2176) in preservative. Photos by TJC.
FIGURE 4 in A new species of African Snake-Eyed Skink (Scincidae: Panaspis) from Ethiopia
FIGURE 4. Habitat of Panaspis annettesabinae at the type locality. The holotype was collected under a tarp in basecamp (above) while Trachylepis maculilabis and T. striata were the only skink species captured in nearby pitfall traps (below) Photos by TJC.
Identification of Y chromosome markers in the eastern three-lined skink (Bassiana duperreyi) using in silico whole genome subtraction
<p>Background: Homologous sex chromosomes can differentiate over time because recombination is suppressed in the region of the sex determining locus, leading to the accumulation of repeats, progressive loss of genes that lack differential influence on the sexes and sequence divergence on the hemizygous homolog. Divergence in the non-recombining regions leads to the accumulation of Y or W specific sequence useful for developing sex-linked markers. Here we use <i>in silico</i> whole-genome subtraction to identify putative sex-linked sequences in the scincid lizard <i>Bassiana duperreyi</i> which has heteromorphic XY sex chromosomes.</p> <p>Results: We generated 96.7 x 10<sup>9</sup> 150 bp paired-end genomic sequence reads from a XY male and 81.4 x 10<sup>9</sup> paired-end reads from an XX female for <i>in silico</i> whole genome subtraction to yield Y enriched contigs. We identified 7 reliable markers which were validated as Y chromosome specific by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) against a panel of 20 males and 20 females.</p> <p>Conclusions: The sex of <i>B. duperreyi</i> can be reversed by low temperatures (XX genotype reversed to a male phenotype). We have developed sex-specific markers to identify the underlying genotypic sex and its concordance or discordance with phenotypic sex in wild populations of <i>B. duperreyi</i>. Our pipeline can be applied to isolate Y or W chromosome-specific sequences of any organism and is not restricted to sequence residing within single-copy genes. This study greatly improves our knowledge of the Y chromosome in <i>B. duperreyi</i> and will enhance future studies of reptile sex determination and sex chromosome evolution.</p>
FIGURE 3 in A new skink of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata: Scincidae) from southern Vietnam
FIGURE 3. Paratypes of Scincella baraensis sp. nov. A–C, ITBCZ 6535 in life (A) and its hemipenes when pressed on tail base (B) and after water injection (C); D, ITBCZ 6536 in life.
FIGURE 2 in A new skink of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata: Scincidae) from southern Vietnam
FIGURE 2. Holotype of Scincella baraensis sp. nov., ITBCZ 6534. A, living specimen; B–D, lateral, dorsal and ventral views of head, respectively; E&F, dorsal and ventral views of left hemipenis (not fully everted); G, fully everted hemipenes.
FIGURE 1 in A new skink of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata: Scincidae) from southern Vietnam
FIGURE 1. The Bayesian inference (BI) tree for the species of Scincella used in this study with branch support values from BI and maximum likelihood (ML), respectively.
FIGURE 4 in A new skink of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata: Scincidae) from southern Vietnam
FIGURE 4. Map of sampling sites of Scincella in southern Vietnam and Cambodia used in this study. Localities: 1, Kon Chu Rang NR., Gia Lai Prov., Vietnam; 2, Kon Ka Kinh NP., Gia Lai Prov., Vietnam; 3, Keo Seima WS., Mondulkiri Prov., Cambodia; 4, Bidoup—Nui Ba NP., Lam Dong Prov., Vietnam; 5, Ba Ra Mountain, Binh Phuoc Prov., Vietnam; 6, Dinh Mountain, Ba Ria—Vung Tau Prov., Vietnam; 7, Ba Den Mountain, Tay Ninh Prov., Vietnam; 8, Veal Veng Dist., Pursat Prov., Cambodia; 9, Phnom Samkos WS., Pursat Prov., Cambodia; 10, Phnom Kulen Dist., Krong Siem Reap, Cambodia; 11, Kuleaen Dist., Preah Vihear Prov., Cambodia (modified from Nguyen et al. 2019).
Data from: Sun skink landscape genomics: assessing how microevolutionary processes shape genetic and phenotypic diversity across a heterogeneous and fragmented landscape
Incorporating genomic data sets into landscape genetic analyses allows for powerful insights into population genetics, explicitly geographical correlates of selection, and morphological diversification of organisms across the geographical template. Here, we utilize an integrative approach to examine gene flow and detect selection, and we relate these processes to genetic and phenotypic population differentiation across South-East Asia in the common sun skink, Eutropis multifasciata. We quantify the relative effects of geographic and ecological isolation in this system and find elevated genetic differentiation between populations from island archipelagos compared to those on the adjacent South-East Asian continent, which is consistent with expectations concerning landscape fragmentation in island archipelagos. We also identify a pattern of isolation by distance, but find no substantial effect of ecological/environmental variables on genetic differentiation. To assess whether morphological conservatism in skinks may result from stabilizing selection on morphological traits, we perform FST–PST comparisons, but observe that results are highly dependent on the method of comparison. Taken together, this work provides novel insights into the manner by which micro-evolutionary processes may impact macro-evolutionary scale biodiversity patterns across diverse landscapes, and provide genomewide confirmation of classic predictions from biogeographical and landscape ecological theory.
Data from: Tropical specialist versus climate generalist: diversification and demographic history of sister species of Carlia skinks from northwestern Australia
Species endemic to the tropical regions are expected to be vulnerable to future climate change due in part to their relatively narrow climatic niches. In addition, these species are more likely to have responded strongly to past climatic change, and this can be explored through phylogeographic analyses. To test the hypothesis that tropical specialists are more sensitive to climate change than climate generalists, we generated and analyze sequence data from mtDNA and ~2500 exons to compare scales of historical persistence and population fluctuation in two sister species of Australian rainbow skinks: the tropical specialist Carlia johnstonei and the climate generalist C. triacantha. We expect the tropical specialist species to have deeper and finer-scale phylogeographic structure and stronger demographic fluctuations relative to the closely related climate generalist species, which should have had more stable populations through periods of harsh climate in the late Quaternary. Within C. johnstonei, we find that populations from the northern Kimberley islands are highly divergent from mainland populations. In C. triacantha, one major clade occurs across the deserts and into the mesic Top End, and another occurs primarily in the Kimberley with scattered records eastwards. Where their ranges overlap in the Kimberley, both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA suggest stronger phylogeographic structure and range expansion within the tropical specialist, whereas the climate generalist has minimal structuring and no evidence of recent past range expansion. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that tropical specialists are more sensitive to past climatic change.
Data from: The challenge of species delimitation at the extremes: diversification without morphological change in Philippine sun skinks
Species represent one of the fundamental units of the evolutionary process, and an accurate understanding of species diversity is essential to studies across a wide range of biological subdisciplines. However, delimiting species remains challenging in evolutionary radiations where morphological diversification is rapid and accompanied by little genetic differentiation or when genetic lineage divergence is not accompanied by morphological change. We investigate the utility of a variety of recently developed approaches to examine genetic and morphological diversity, and delimit species in a morphologically conserved group of Southeast Asian lizards. We find that species diversity is vastly underestimated in this unique evolutionary radiation, and find an extreme case where extensive genetic divergence among lineages has been accompanied by little to no differentiation in external morphology. Although we note that different conclusions can be drawn when species are delimited using molecular phylogenetics, coalescent-based methods, or morphological data, it is clear that the use of a pluralistic approach leads to a more comprehensive appraisal of biodiversity, and greater appreciation for processes of diversification in this biologically important geographic region. Similarly, our approach demonstrates how recently developed methodologies can be utilized to obtain robust estimates of species limits in "non-adaptive" or "cryptic" evolutionary radiations.
Data from: Persistence and dispersal in a Southern Hemisphere glaciated landscape: the phylogeography of the spotted snow skink (Niveoscincus ocellatus) in Tasmania
Background: The aim of this research was to identify the effects of Pleistocene climate change on the distribution of fauna in Tasmania, and contrast this with biotic responses in other temperate regions in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere that experienced glacial activity during this epoch. This was achieved by examining the phylogeographic patterns in a widely distributed Tasmanian endemic reptile, Niveoscincus ocellatus. 204 individuals from 29 populations across the distributional range of N. ocellatus were surveyed for variation at two mitochondrial genes (ND2, ND4), and two nuclear genes (β-globin, RPS8). Phylogenetic relationships were reconstructed using a range of methods (maximum parsimony, Bayesian inference and haplotype networks), and the demographic histories of populations were assessed (AMOVA, Tajima's D, Fu's Fs, mismatch distributions, extended Bayesian skyline plots, and relaxed random walk analyses). Results: There was a high degree of mitochondrial haplotype diversity (96 unique haplotypes) and phylogeographic structure, where spatially distinct groups were associated with Tasmania's Northeast and a large area covering Southeast and Central Tasmania. Phylogeographic structure was also present within each major group, but the degree varied regionally, being highest in the Northeast. Only the Southeastern group had a signature of demographic expansion, occurring during the Pleistocene but post-dating the Last Glacial Maximum. In contrast, nuclear DNA had low levels of variation and a lack of phylogeographic structure, and further loci should be surveyed to corroborate the mitochondrial inferences. Conclusions: The phylogeographic patterns of N. ocellatus indicate Pleistocene range and demographic expansion in N. ocellatus, particularly in the Southeast and Central areas of Tasmania. Expansion in Central and Southeastern areas appears to have been more recent in both demographic and spatial contexts, than in Northeast Tasmania, which is consistent with inferences for other taxa of greater stability and persistence in Northeast Tasmania during the Last Glacial Maximum. These phylogeographic patterns indicate contrasting demographic histories of populations in close proximity to areas directly affected by glaciers in the Southern Hemisphere during the LGM.
Data from: Facultative oviparity in a viviparous skink (Saiphos equalis)
Facultative changes in parity mode (oviparity to viviparity, and vice versa) are rare in vertebrates, yet offer fascinating opportunities to investigate the role of reproductive lability in parity mode evolution. Here we report apparent facultative oviparity by a viviparous female of the bimodally reproductive skink Saiphos equalis- the first report of different parity modes within a vertebrate clutch. Eggs oviposited facultatively possess shell characteristics of both viviparous and oviparous S. equalis, demonstrating that egg coverings for viviparous embryos are produced by the same machinery as those for oviparous individuals. Since selection may act in either direction when viviparity has evolved recently, squamate reproductive lability may confer a selective advantage. We suggest that facultative oviparity is a viable reproductive strategy for S. equalis and that squamate reproductive lability is more evolutionarily significant than previously acknowledged.
Data from: Experimental manipulation suggests effect of polyandry but not mate familiarity on within-pair aggression in the social skink, Liopholis whitii
Long-term monogamy is a key characteristic of family living across animals. The evolutionary maintenance of long-term monogamy has been suggested to be facilitated by increased reproductive coordination as a result of mate familiarity, leading to increased reproductive success. However, such effects can be compromised if females mate outside the pair bond (e.g. female polyandry), introducing conflicts of interest between the male and female. Here, we experimentally test the effects of both mate familiarity and female polyandry on agonistic behaviour and reproduction in a family living lizard, Liopholis whitii. We found that mate familiarity did not decrease the level of aggression between pairs whereas reducing female polyandry did. However, we did not find an effect of either mate familiarity or female polyandry on female reproductive output. These results suggest that male behavioural responses to female polyandry may influence pair stability in Liopholis whitii, providing support for the growing appreciation of the multiple ways in which female polyandry can influence the stability of family living.
Data from: Phylogenetic relationships of Trachylepis skink species from Madagascar and the Seychelles (Squamata: Scincidae)
Lizards of the genus Trachylepis are a species-rich group of skinks mainly inhabiting Africa, Madagascar, and several other islands in the western Indian Ocean. All except one probably introduced species of Madagascan Trachylepis are endemic. Two species groups have been distinguished on the basis of subocular scale shape but their phylogenetic relationships remained unclear. We inferred a multilocus phylogeny of the Madagascan Trachylepis species, based on a concatenated dataset of 3261 bp from 3 mitochondrial and 4 nuclear genes with a dense Madagascan taxon sampling and find high support for the monophyly of the endemic Madagascan Trachylepis. The two species groups in Madagascar are highly supported as clades. The highland species T. boettgeri is nested in the T. aureopunctata species group of mainly arid-adapted species, suggesting a colonization of highland swamps by ancestors inhabiting dry western Madagascar. The Seychellois species were sister to the T. maculilabris/T. comorensis clade, suggesting their origin directly out of Africa as with Seychellois chameleons. In Madagascar, a high intraspecific molecular variation was confirmed for T. gravenhorstii, T. elegans, and T. vato, indicating a need for taxonomic revision.
FIGURES 8–10 in A rare alpine skink Oligosoma pikitanga n. sp. (Reptilia: Scincidae) from Llawrenny Peaks, Fiordland, New Zealand
FIGURES 8–10. Head and chin drawings of O. pikitanga (note the lateral drawing is from Live Specimen, due to the poor condition of the lateral head side of the Holotype).
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Allen Brain Atlas
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The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
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