We tested for the occurrence of Bergmann's rule, the pattern of increasing body size with latitude, and Rapoport's rule, the positive relationship between geographical range size and latitude, in 34 lineages of Liolaemus lizards that occupy arid regions of the Andean foothills. We tested the climatic-variability hypothesis (CVH) by examining the relationship between thermal tolerance breadth an...

Bergmann's rule predicts larger body sizes in species living in higher latitudes and altitudes. This rule appears to be valid for endotherms, but its relevance to ectotherm vertebrates has largely been debated. In squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes), only one study, based on Liolaemus species of the boulengeri clade, has provided phylogenetic evidence in favour of Bergmann's clines. We reass...

Lepidiolamprologus kamambae is described from the Kamamba Island off the southeastern coast of Lake Tanganyika. It is similar to L. elongatus, L. kendalli, and L. mimicus in the presence of three horizontal rows of dark blotches along the sides. It differs from those species in the presence of a distinct suborbital stripe across the cheek. It is further distinguished from L. elongatus and L. mi...

—We describe a new species of scincid lizard of the genus Brachymeles from the Luzon Faunal Region of the northern Philippines. We discovered the new species in the Camarines Norte Province of the Bicol Peninsula (Luzon Island) and Catanduanes Island. Until recently, the new species had been mistaken as Brachymeles talinis, a distantly allopatric yet morphologically similar, large-bodied congen...

Gobiobotia lii is described from the Qi-Shui, a stream tributary on northern bank of middle Chang-Jiang mainstem in Hubei Province and Lake Dongting Hunan Province, central China. The new species distinguished all other congeneric by possessing combination following characters: naked region abdomen adjacent to ventral mid-line extending vent vertebral count (4+31–32). validity G. confirmed its ...