Many processes of biological diversification can simultaneously affect multiple evolu- tionary lineages. Examples include multiple members of a gene family diverging when a region of a chromosome is duplicated, multiple viral strains diverging at a “super- spreading” event, and a geological event fragmenting whole communities of species. It is difficult to test for patterns of shared divergences predicted by such processes because...

Introduction A large array of species can accumulate on islands because the organisms that end up colonizing (establishing a new population in) these new habitats are physically separated from the original population they branched off from and thus proceed on their own evolutionary course. Successful colonization is affected by many factors, including ocean currents, competition between organisms, and the reproductive, behavioral, and...

Despite rampant coastal development throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific, studies of conservation genetics and ecology of vulnerable, coastal species are rare. Large bodied vertebrates with highly specialized habitat requirements may be at particular risk of extinction due to habitat degradation and fragmentation, especially if these habitats are naturally patchily distributed, marginal, otherwise geographically limited, or associated in space with high human...

Aim To utilize comprehensive geographical sampling and a new, multilocus dataset to re-examine the biogeography of spotted stream frogs (Hylarana signata complex) throughout Southeast Asia. To compare patterns of diversification among stream frog populations on land-bridge islands and oceanic islands and to re-evaluate a previous ‘dual-invasion’ hypothesis for the origins of endemic Philippine taxa. Location Southeast Asia, Sundaland, and the Philippines. Methods...

We provide a phylogenetic and population genetic evaluation of the illegal pet and bush meat trade of monitor lizards in the Philippines. We use a molecular dataset assembled from vouchered samples with known localities throughout the country, as a reference for statistical phylogenetic, population genetic, and DNA barcoding analyses of genetic material obtained during a three year survey of the Manila pet...

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...

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,...

The closed-canopy forests of Southeast Asia are home to an impressive number of vertebrates that have independently evolved morphologies that enhance directed aerial descent (gliding, parachuting). These assemblages include numerous mammal, frog, snake, and lizard clades. Several genera of gekkonid lizards, in particular, have evolved specialized structures such as cutaneous expansions, flaps, and midbody patagia, that enhance lift generation in the context...

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 describe a new species of lizard in the genus Gekko from Sibuyan Island in the Romblon Island group of the central Philippines. Although the new species is diagnosed from other Philippine Gekko by body size and shape, coloration, and multiple characteristics of external morphology, additional support for the recognition of the Sibuyan Gekko population as a distinct evolutionary lineage is garnered...