We describe a new cave-dwelling species, Cyrtodactylus sanook sp. nov., from Tham Sanook, Chumphon Province, southern Thailand, characterized by a maximum SVL of 79.5 mm; 18-20 longitudinal rows of dorsal tubercles at midbody; a continuous series of enlarged femoral and precloacal scales, no femoral pores, three or four precloacal pores in males (no pores in females), no precloacal groove nor d...

The cDNA encoding noggin2 protein was obtained from the brain and spinal cord cDNA library of Gekko japonicus. The size of the noggin2 transcript and its expression in different tissues were analyzed by Northern blot analysis. In situ hybridization revealed positive hybridization signals in both gray and white matter of the spinal cord. Changes in noggin2 expression in the spinal cord after tai...

The glides of the lizard, Ptychozoon lionatum, with lateral cutaneous expansions tied and untied were measured and timed. Analysis demonstrated that untied animals traveled farther and at lower speeds than animals with expansions tied. Glide distances for untied lizards were negatively correlated with weight/surface area and with weight/snout-vent length. It is suggested that the primary functi...

Karstic landscapes are immense reservoirs of biodiversity and range-restricted endemism. Nowhere is this more evident than in the world’s third-largest vertebrate genus Cyrtodactylus (Gekkonidae) which contains well over 300 species. A stochastic character mapping analysis 10 different habitat preferences across a phylogeny containing 344 described undescribed species recovered karst preference...

Abstract It is hypothesized that shape differences between the closely related sandstone night lizard ( Xantusia gracilis ) and granite X. henshawi may be correlated with structual in their respective microhabitats. Multivariate univariate analyses of 22 morphometric characters taken from head, body, limbs both saxicolus specialists recovered statistically significant them having a wider longer...