Recognizing species-level diversity is important for studying evolutionary patterns across biological disciplines and is critical for conservation efforts. However, challenges remain in delimiting species-level diversity, especially in cryptic radiations where species are genetically divergent but show little morphological differentiation. Using multilocus molecular data, phylogenetic analyses, species delimitation analyses, and morphological data, we examine lineage diversification in a cryptic radiation of Riopa skinks...

Adaptive radiations are the rapid accumulation of new species accompanied by adaptation to a diversity of habitats and environments that have specific requirements for habitation. This adaptation is typically observed through different corresponding physical changes. By broadly framing evolutionary radiations as the accumulation of both lineages and observable characteristics, comparisons among groups become focused not on the absolute number of lineages or...

Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) is rapidly gaining popularity in population genetics. One example, msBayes, infers the distribution of divergence times among pairs of taxa, allowing phylogeographers to test hypotheses about historical auses of diversification in co-distributed groups of organisms. Using msBayes, we infer the distribution of divergence times among 22 pairs of populations of vertebrates distributed across the Philippine Archipelago. Our objective...

In theory, competition among species in a shared habitat results in niche separation. In the case of small recondite mammals such as shrews, little is known about their autecologies, leaving open questions regarding the degree to which closely related species co-occur and how or whether ecological niches are partitioned. The extent to which species are able to coexist may depend on the...

Living amphibians exhibit a diversity of ecologies, life histories, and species-rich lineages that offers opportunities for studies of adaptive radiation. We characterize a diverse clade of frogs (Kaloula, Microhylidae) in the Philippine island archipelago as an example of an adaptive radiation into three primary habitat specialists or ecotypes. We use a novel phylogenetic estimate for this clade to evaluate the tempo of...

Aim Widespread species found in disturbed habitats are often expected to be human commensals. In island systems, this association predicts that dispersal will be mediated by humans. We investigated the biogeographical relationships among populations of a widespread tree skink that inhabits coastal forest and human-cultivated plantations in Southeast Asia. We sought to determine whether populations of the emerald tree skink, Lamprolepis smaragdina,...

Some of Southeast Asia’s most poorly known vertebrates include forest lizards that are rarely seen by field biologists. Arguably the most enigmatic of forest lizards from the Indo Australian archipelago are the Flap-legged geckos and the Flying geckos of the genera Luperosaurus and Ptychozoon. As new species have accumulated, several have been noted for their bizarre combination of morphological characteristics, seemingly intermediate...

Aim We examine the genetic diversity within the lizard genus Gekko in the Philippine islands to understand the role of geography and geological history in shaping species diversity in this group.Wetest multiple biogeographical hypotheses of species relationships, including the recently proposed Palawan Ark Hypothesis. Location Southeast Asia and the Philippines. Methods Samples of all island endemic and widespread Philippine Gekko species were...

We use mitochondrial gene sequences to estimate relationships among Gekko populations from the northern Philippines. These data, plus morphological and biogeographical evidence, suggest that the Babuyan and Batanes island groups (north of Luzon Island) are inhabited by a minimum of six distinct evolutionary lineages, only two of which (Gekko porosus Taylor from the Batanes and Gekko crombota from Babuyan Claro) have been...