A new species of the genus Liolaemus (Iguania: Liolaemidae) is described from the province of Tucumán, northwestern Argentina. This new lizard species is a member of the L. boulengeri group and within this group, it is a member of the L. darwinii subgroup. It is found at a site called Los Cardones (Km 98), at an altitude of 2725 m, near Amaicha del Valle, Tucumán province. Including this new sp...

Despite increasing reports to the contrary, caecilians are often considered to be unusual components of tropical ecosystems, where they predate largely on soil ecosystem engineers. The status of two East African Boulengerula species is assessed using a quantitative randomised survey method and timed searches, in low-intensity agriculture and natural forested settings. Mean density of B. bouleng...

Molecular phylogenies have provided strong evidence for clarifying the taxonomy of groups with ambiguous morphological traits, thus avoiding potentially misleading conclusions based on evolutionary convergence of these traits. For snakes, established molecular databases along with new sequences from rare species allows us to estimate phylogenies, to clarify the phylogenetic relationships and te...

Two new species of chameleons from the genera Rhampholeon and Kinyongia are described from an isolated montane forest remnant situated toward the southern end of the Albertine Rift bordering Lake Tanganyika. The closest known localities of species from these genera are 200km and 400km to the north respectively, separated by large intervening tracts of lowland savannah and Brachystegia (Miombo) ...

The endemic Malagasy frog radiations are an ideal model system to study patterns and processes of speciation in amphibians. Large-scale diversity patterns of these frogs, together with other endemic animal radiations, led to the postulation of new and the application of known hypotheses of species diversification causing diversity patterns in this biodiversity hotspot. Both extrinsic and intrin...

Functional traits are increasingly recognized as an integrative approach by ecologists to quantify a key facet of biodiversity. And these traits are primarily expressed as species means in previous studies, based on the assumption that the effects of intraspecific variability can be overridden by interspecific variability when studying functional ecology at the community level. However, given t...

Using sequences of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene (ND2, 1047bp) and a segment of the non-coding mitochondrial control region, as well as nuclear sequences including two introns from the S7 ribosomal protein and the loci TmoM25, TmoM27, and UME002, we explore the phylogenetic relationships of Lepidiolamprologus, one of seven lamprologine cichlid genera in Lake Tanganyika, Ea...

Inconspicuous, secretive, or sparsely distributed species receive relatively little research attention, potentially leading to uncertainty about their status and lack of efforts conserve them. Karoo dwarf tortoises (Chersobius boulengeri) are endemic South Africa, spend most the time in retreats at remote arid locations, seldom seen. We conducted a 3-year (2018–2020) mark-recapture study invest...