Despite increased understanding of higher-level relationships in passerine birds in the last 15 years, the taxonomic boundaries and phylogenetic interrelationships of the major groups of the Tyrannida (including the cotingas, manakins, tityrines, and tyrant flycatchers) remain unclear. Here, we present an analysis of DNA sequence data obtained from two nuclear exons, three introns, and one mito...

Several lizard species that live in arid areas have developed special abilities to collect water with their bodies' surfaces and to ingest the so collected moisture. This is called rain- or moisture-harvesting. The water can originate from air humidity, fog, dew, rain or even from humid soil. The integument (i.e., the skin plus skin derivatives such as scales) has developed features so that the...

High elevation adaptation offers an excellent study system to understand the genetic basis of adaptive evolution. We acquired transcriptome sequences of two closely related lizards, Phrynocephalus przewalskii from low elevations and P. vlangalii from high elevations. Within a phylogenetic framework, we compared their genomic data along with green anole, chicken and Chinese softshell turtle, and...

the spotted toad-headed agama, phrynocephalus maculatus, is a member of the agamidae family distributed in the central and south-eastern deserts of iran. iranian specimens are rare in collections. in this research, the female reproductive cycle of this species was studied from april 5 to august 5, 2013. totally, 15 adult females were collected by hand at midday from southern parts of damghan co...

Upslope range shifting has been documented in diverse species response to global warming. Plasticity, which refers the ability of organisms alter their phenotypes changing environments, is crucial for survival those that newly migrated a high-altitude environment. The scope and mechanisms plasticity across biological levels, however, have rarely examined. We used two agama lizards (genus Phryno...