The Chungan ground lizard, Takydromus sylvaticus, long known only from five females collected in Fujian Province of China, was recently found in Anhui Province of the country. The newly collected specimens included the first male specimens (n=7), in which the tail bases were stouter than in conspecific females. Ventral scales in these males were invariably keeled, whereas in females those formi...

JOSÉ A. MATEO, PIERRE-ANDRÉ CROCHET & OSCAR M. AFONSO BIOGES, Campus de Tafira s/n, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. E-35017, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain CNRS-UMR 5175, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, 1919 route de Mende, F-34293 Montpellier cedex 5, France Borbalán 3, E-38870 Valle Gran Rey (La Gomera), Canary Islands, Spain Corresponding author. E-...

A new and distinctive species of lacertid genus Acanthodactylus Fitzinger, 1834 is described from 7 km east of Khamir Port, Hormozgan Province, southern Iran at an elevation of 30-40m above sea level (asl). Analyses of morphological characters and the comparison with other formerly known species of this genus have proven the status of this taxon as a new, distinct species. Combinations of scala...

Molecular phylogenetic analyses of southern African lacertid lizards (Eremiadini) using mitochondrial and nuclear markers revealed two examples of generic assignments incompatible with monophyletic clades. Australolacerta Arnold 1989, a genus endemic to South Africa and to which two isolated species have been referred, is paraphyletic at the generic level. In addition, the species Ichnotropis s...

.........................................................................................................................................v Introduction ....................................................................................................................................1 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................

the updated checklist of amphibians and reptiles of qom province, central iran is presented. totally 46 species, 35 genera and 17 families of reptiles and amphibians are reported in the area. the most diverse suborder is serpentes with 19 species or 41.3% of the reptile species richness of the region. the most specious families with high diversification are ranked respectively: colubridae with ...

The Caspian lizard (Darevskia caspica) is a recently described endemic of the Hyrcanian forests Northern Iran. paper presents new data on reproductive biology D. caspica obtained in laboratory conditions. Breeding females have body length 53.4– 64.4 mm and mass 2.96–3.60 g. Females produce from one to three clutches per season, each which contains 1–6 eggs. these eggs 10.35–13.95 mm, width 6.19...

Takydromus Daudin is a group of Lacertidae lizards with slender bodies and long tails. Half of the Takydromus spp. are endemic to islands of eastern Asia aligned along the Pacific margin of the East Asian continent. This feature offers a good opportunity to study the effects of glaciations and land connections on the speciation of East Asian fauna. We reconstructed the molecular phylogeny of Ta...

Organisms generally have many defenses against predation, yet may lack effective defenses if from populations without predators. Evolutionary theory predicts that "costly" antipredator behaviors will be selected against when predation risk diminishes. We examined antipredator behaviors in Aegean wall lizards, Podarcis erhardii, across an archipelago of land-bridge islands that vary in predator ...

In many animals, aspects of colouration are hypothesized to convey information on the body condition or quality of individuals. This idea has been tested primarily for the carotenoid-based component of body colouration. The significance of other pigments in this context has received far less attention. In the common lizard, Zootoca vivipara, the degree of black patterning on the ventrum and thr...